Venus and the Angel
by gempire
Summary: This is based after When the Snows Thaw
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: Twilight is the property of Stephenie Meyer**

**This was going to be a one shot, but it looks like it'll be in at least three parts now. For those of you who have read 'When the Snows Thaw' I'm sure you've guessed from the title what this is about ;)**

**This is set a few months after where WTST ended so it predates the current timeline in 'Dhampir Hereafter'. I had intended to put this up before DH, but WTST ran on for a few more chapters and I didn't want to leave the cliffhanger from 'Dhampir in Disguise' hanging too long. **

* * *

**Prue**

It was a Thursday in June and I was a little bored I guess. Who knew having a big old house complete with swimming pool and spa would be such a drag? I liked the pool and spa, and I liked all the space, but something felt a little off. I guess it was nothing without someone to share it with and I was uber horny anyway. Maybe I could go into town, or maybe down to Ridgeborough and pick someone up. But that seemed a little disrespectful to Essie and Tobias, not to mention my little friend Billie. This was her home and I wouldn't degrade it in that way. Her parents had been good enough to let me have the house for the week because they knew how much I loved the pool, and I'd use it just for swimming. I owed it to Billie.

She's such a smart kid, and hard to believe that this time last year she wasn't even born. Not even conceived. But she's a half vampire and that's how these things go, apparently. I was her official minder, but for the week she was off with her parents to the great vampire summit to get registered. So was my sister Grace, but her story was a lot different, and I still hadn't got my head around it properly.

I had free run of Tregarran Hall and I was starting to see how doing your favourite thing every day could be bad. I got out of the pool and run water into the spa. I'd have a nice time in the hot tub. I could even bathe in it properly as I'd always wanted to since the first time I saw it.

The tub was full and I started the bubbles, pulling off all my clothes. I climbed into the tub and sank delightfully into the water. It caressed my body and I relaxed for a long while. After an hour I decided to wash my hair.

I washed my hair and after washing the conditioner I decided to just get up out of the tub and dress to watch a movie. I rose to my feet, pushing back my hair, which was down past my shoulders now.

"Great Venus it's you!" Someone gasped and I looked to the guy who'd spoke.

My mouth fell open when I saw that tall, dark, handsome, muscles rippling, beautiful man.

"My angel." I murmured.

The man gasped, then turned away from me. Somehow I realised it was my nakedness that bothered him. I quickly grabbed the bathrobe and pulled it around me as I stepped out onto the tiles.

"Don't. Please look at me." I said, touching his arm. "It's Tibbi isn't it? Now I can thank you properly. If it wasn't for you I'd still be in that field in Iowa, doped up to my eyeballs and letting men do what they want with my body."

"They defiled you?" He asked, looking at me in shock.

"They might have done. Not that I know. I don't remember much of that time. Except you cleared my mind and I could finally come home." I said with a smile.

"Why would a divine being like you open yourself up to such dangers?" He asked in astonishment.

"Look Tibbi, I'm no more the goddess Venus than you are an angel. I'm Prue Pearson and your Tiberius, well I don't know if you got a surname, but that's not important. What's important is that we're alive and we're real and I've been hoping to meet you ever since that day in the field in Iowa." I admitted.

"You have?" He asked as if he didn't quite believe it.

"Yes. I even found out your name from your sister." I pointed out.

"Which one?" He asked.

"Lilly."

"She…" Tibbi chuckled and shook his head. "She treats me like a child. Did she think I'd shy away from this place if I knew you were here? On the contrary, I would have come sooner. I was asked to meet Lilly here and she said to come straight in."

"Lilly isn't here. She's at the big vamp conference."

"Oh…" Tibbi looked confused.

"Why don't you go sit down on the couch and watch TV while I get dressed and then we can talk." I stated, pointing into the rec room.

Tibbi looked toward the couch and the TV as if kicking back and veging in front of the box was something alien to him. Possibly it was, Lilly had said they grew up on an island with no other people around, well other than… I didn't want to think about that right now. I needed to get dressed so we could speak properly.

"Just go stand then. I won't be long." I told him and gestured him out into the room.

Tibbi nodded and stepped outside the bathroom. I closed the door to the rec room, and the one that led to the pool too in case there were any more unexpected guests. Not that I did expect that, this had all the hallmarks of a set up. Lilly was trying to make this all covert and romantic, but so far it was just awkward. And not on my part, I like my body and got no objection to people seeing it, especially handsome dark skinned angels, but it was Tibbi's shy reaction that made it awkward.

I dressed in the clothes I'd put ready earlier, nothing fancy, just sweats and a t-shirt since I'd planned on lounging about the place after my morning of swimming. I would have preferred to wear something more spectacular in my first encounter with Tibbi, but I guess this was a step up from the scarecrow I'd been in that field in Iowa.

I wrapped a towel around my hair to stop it dripping on my back and stepped out into the rec room. Tibbi had sat on the couch, but he didn't lounge into it, he sat up straight as if he didn't know how to relax. He was sat in the centre of the half circle couch so I sat on the coffee table so I could face him.

"So what did Lilly tell you exactly?" I asked.

"That it was time I came to visit her and she wouldn't take no for an answer." Tibbi replied, his deep brown eyes moving over me as if he was committing me to memory. "You look different now." He stated.

"Yeah. I'm dressed." I returned and he frowned. "You mean from the field? I clean up well don't I?"

"You were a sight, but there was something within you. A light I wished to see, but it was obscured. Obscured by the fog of the toxins with which you had abused your body. I wanted to make the light brighter, and now it's at the surface it's blinding." He said intensely still looking into my eyes.

"I'm happy now, really happy with my life. That's probably what makes the difference." I stated.

Tibbi looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Yes. I think you're right." He said and he smiled, his teeth bright white in contrast to his skin and I felt my heart flutter.

"Oh you're beautiful." I whispered. "No wonder I thought you were an angel. How could you not be?"

Tibbi was just like Lilly, he didn't know how to handle a compliment, he probably thought he didn't deserve any.

"You are a handsome man Tibbi, and if this was a year ago that would have been enough for me to seduce you. I wouldn't be doing any of this talking crap; I probably would have pulled you into the tub with me. Whatever, I'd be showing you more pleasure than you could imagine right now."

"If you could have seduced me." Tibbi said with a grin and that slight hint of Italian showed through in his voice.

"I would have." I said with a shrug. "I'm Prue Pearson, there's not a man on earth I couldn't mould into mine if I set my mind to it. But I'm tired of meaningless sex and empty relationships. I want something real. I want friendship and loving, even if it's just a fraction of what I've seen between all you supernatural types."

"You want me because I'm supernatural?" He asked, jumping to the wrong conclusion, although I could kind of see why from what I'd said.

"No no no, that's not what I meant at all." I assured him. "I want you because you're one hot hunk of man, but that's not what I need. I need to take step back and use my head for once. I want to get to know you for the person you are before there's any sex involved."

"You want sex? With me?" Tibbi asked in amazement.

"Don't be such a kid." I said, and then cursed myself. "I bet you've never actually been with anyone have you? Probably got some standards or…whatever. And of course the vamp women of Volterra wouldn't be interested in a half blood. To tell the truth if I was a Volturi woman I'd turn right off men given how they treat women as objects for their own gratification. You don't have those views do you?"

"I grew up outnumbered by sisters. I know not to vex ladies or they are likely to react… well not very ladylike." He said with a chuckle then pointed to a mark on his forearm, it was almost unnoticeable, a slight line of discoloration. "I've still got the scar from when I stole Ninian's diary and read it to our brothers. She's the best fighter of us, but also has the mushiest soul. She doesn't like to be reminded of it even though we all know it is true." Then Tibbi looked sad. "I miss Nin, she was fun when you got her angry, but she was also a good doctor and she stayed behind as the wolves' physician."

"Are there many of your siblings left in Volterra?" I asked softly because Lilly hadn't told me some got left behind.

"Four of my sisters." Tibbi stated. "Three of them stayed for noble reasons, but Clara…" He shook his head. "Such idiotic romantic notions she got from those rubbish books she was always reading. She lost her heart to the first vampire who took a fancy to her. Demetri." He growled. "He bewitched her somehow. She wouldn't leave and now I don't know if she's still alive. I know Ninian, Jewel and Preston are safe, they are needed in their role with the werewolves, but poor Clara." He shook his head sadly again. "Does that cad Demetri love her enough to vouch for her and plead for her life? Is his love strong enough to withstand Chelsea's influence? Or will he just turn her over to the brothers without a thought because she's nothing more than a bauble?"

"Isn't there any way you can contact her to find out?" I asked tentatively.

"Relations between the Coalition and the Volturi are strained after Father defected and took us children with him. It was a slap in the face for Aro, despite the fact Father had been out of favour for over a decade by the time we made our escape." Tibbi explained.

"No matter how mad you are at your kids it still hurts when they leave you." I said. "I did that enough times to my mother to know that." I stopped and thought for a moment. "I want to show you something but it's not here. It's back at the Stables. At my house. I can drive us there now."

"In an automobile?"

"Jeez Tibbi, you really need to update your vocabulary, or at least pull it out of main land Europe. It's called a car. A Pontiac G6 GT Convertible in hot red to be exact. Now get your butt out of that chair and come with me. You need to see something." I said, getting to my feet and holding out my hand to him.

Tibbi looked at me with a little amusement on his face, obviously finding the fact that little old human me was offering to help perfectly in control of his every muscle dhampir him to his feet. He didn't comment though just took my hand and let me imagine that I was helping him to his feet. Weird as it was, that earned him brownie points. He wasn't trying to lord his physical superiority over me. He was willing to let me, a human, feel needed. That's how I decided to read it anyway and stuff you if you think different. It's my life, my choices, my decisions, and that's what I decided in that moment.

Tibbi got to his feet, making a show of me helping him up and then he was there an inch taller than me. I thought that was about enough, I didn't know how Grace could stand having Tony tower a whole foot above her, and look at Liza with, what was his name again? Some type of stone? Malachite. That's it. Malachite is like a foot and a half taller than Liza, that begs all manner of wonderings of how they actually got down and dirty. When I asked her all Liza would say was that it worked brilliantly and Mal made her feel things that no words could express. She was boring in the details department, but hell I had a soft spot for my little deputy and well Mal was her first and Liza was stiff and old fashioned, it would take a lot to get her to talk to me.

Anyway, Tibbi was the right amount taller than me, or should I say the height I liked. He couldn't tower over me, but I could still wear heals. He was perfect in that respect. I felt the urge to kiss him, but I was the new Prue, the Prue who listened to her head not her body.

"I'm parked down in the garage." I stated. "Follow me."

I led him down to the garage and the way he was looking around it was clear he'd never been in Tregarran before.

"How did you get in anyway?" I asked.

"Through the glass room that houses the swimming pool." Tibbi replied. "The door at the far end was unlocked, just as Lilly promised me."

"And that makes me a very bad house sitter. I've been on my own here almost a week and I didn't think to check if any of those doors were locked. I just assumed they were because I don't think I've ever seen them open." I stated.

"I could go lock them for you if you would like?" Tibbi offered.

"Nah. Nobody would dare steal from the Blacks. Not that they've ever shown any streak of violence or anything, but people know not to mess with them. Guess humans pick up on the vamp vibe without really realising it." I said with a shrug. "So what do you think?" I asked, indicating my car.

"It is very red." He said. "Very sleek and very red."

"You really don't know much about cars do you?" I said with a laugh.

"I can run as fast as a car, and our island home was so small we didn't need such devices. We saw them in movies, but they weren't something we could experience until we were ordered to Volterra. We went in a limousine, and only once. It took us from the port to the castle of Volterra and there we stayed until we escaped."

"So I guess you've never been in a car like mine." I said with a smile. "And lucky for you it's just overcast today and not raining. We can have the top down."

"I'm sorry, I'm lost." Tibbi said softly.

"Like this." I said, pressing the button on my key and the roof of my car began to fold up and away into the little compartment on the back.

"I see. That's amazing that it fits away like that. How does it work?" He asked, inspecting it.

"How the hell should I know? I'm not an engineer. All I know is that it does and looks really cool." I replied, before gesturing into the car. "So hop in."

Tibbi nodded and then jumped from where he was standing and vaulted smoothly into the seat. He made it look effortless and I was a little jealous of the control he had over his body. All the dhampir had it and it seemed so unfair. I probably could have done that when I was seventeen, but I was out of practice and the other side of thirty, those things weren't possible for me now. Especially with my knee. It was times like this I found myself wondering if maybe I should ask them to turn me, but Grace didn't want me to. She'd been dealt a lucky hand in the fluke that made her a half vamp instead of a full one, she wanted me to stay warm and avoid the cold if possible. But when I thought about growing old and dying while everyone in my life was now somehow immortal, well sometimes I just wanted to go up to the nearest vamp and say 'bite me already'. I looked at Tibbi and I had a moment of struggle where I was about to ask him, but I'd heard it takes a lot of control and I wasn't sure if he had enough yet, he did drink human blood…

"Prue? Are you ok?" He asked.

I blinked and refocused on him.

"Yeah. Just having a moment." I stated. "You need to move into the other seat cause judging by your reaction to just seeing a car I doubt you know how to drive. Not only that, only I drive my girl."

Tibbi nodded and moved into the passenger seat. I opened the door and got behind the wheel.

"Seatbelt." I stated, pulling my own seatbelt on and Tibbi obeyed. "Let's go."

I started the car and pulled out of the garage. The door closed behind the car as I made my way around the house and on to the long winding drive. Once I was out on the main road I opened her up, not that we had far to go, but I wanted to show Tibbi fast travel my way.

Tibbi chuckled as the wind whipped around us.

"This is fun." He said.

"Yeah. I probably should have taken my towel off." I said, having to push it back up as I slowed down and I pulled onto the gravel in front of my house. "Well this is where I live. The Stables."

"It doesn't look like stables." He remarked.

"There's some round the back. We used to have a riding school but Mom and Dad had other things to do and it went out of business. We didn't run out of money, Mom just run out of interest and got rid of the horses even though I loved them. She did it just to spite me, or at least that's what I thought at the time. I know better now, but that was one of many misunderstandings between us and she probably thought I hated her when she died." I stated as I parked the car and got out. "Worst thing about that, I probably did." I admitted and I hit the button to close the roof as I walked up to the door of my house.

Tibbi was suddenly beside me and he was looking into my eyes with his hands either side of my face.

"You really believe that." He said. "There's no fog of confusion, you hated your mother. Why?"

"We never got on. We were too similar. We clashed." I said and I pulled away from Tibbi and opened the door and stepped inside. "And she blamed me for what happened to Grace."

"Grace?"

"My sister." I said as I threw my keys into the dish and led Tibbi to the stairs. "We're going to my room because that's where my computer is." I stated. "We won't be doing anything else, do you understand?"

"I have never been in a lady's bedchamber before." Tibbi mused.

"Then I guess it's a first for both of us." I stated.

"How so?"

"I've never had a guy in my room without it ending in the horizontal tango." I quipped.

"You are a…" He began.

"Think before you finish that question." I said, giving him a steely look before I climbed the stairs.

"A very passionate woman who likes to fulfil her need for sexual thrills but has yet to find the partner that truly deserves her?" Tibbi ventured.

"I guess growing up with all them sisters did teach you something." I said as I reached the landing and led him to my bedroom and I paused by the door. "We're only using the computer." I repeated. "Please remind me if I…"

"I'm not sure if I could." Tibbi said. "I'm attracted to you and it's only the fact that I am too inexperienced to initiate anything that is stopping me from seducing you. If you proposition me I will not be able to stop myself from acquiescing to your wishes."

"Oh wow." I gasped as I looked up into his eyes that weren't as dark as I thought, they were dark at the outer edges but around the iris they were a warm caramel and I was melting as if I was those candies myself. "Then I guess I'll just have to risk it." I stated and pushed open my door and stepped into my room.

Tibbi stopped at the door.

"What is this Dracula? Do I have to invite you in?" I demanded as I dropped into my desk chair, the same one I had since high school, and hit the on button of my laptop.

Tibbi was beside me and I looked up at him with my eyebrows raised.

"I really wish you wouldn't do that." I said. "I can't hear you approach when you use vamp stealth mode. I'm human remember?"

"Unfortunately yes." Tibbi replied.

"Unfortunately? You got a problem with me being human?" I demanded.

"None, apart from one." He stated calmly.

"Which is?" I prompted.

"That you will expire in but eight decades, perhaps nine and I will no longer be able to look upon you." He said sadly.

"Oh." I said, feeling a little flustered by those remarks. "And thanks."

"For what?" He asked with a frown.

"Well you must think I look younger than I am because going off your predictions I'm gonna live until I'm a hundred and thirteen, possibly a hundred and twenty three. Thank you."

"You are…" Tibbi paused a moment calculating. "Thirty three?"

"Yes."

"Oh." He stopped and frowned. "You look younger."

"And you think you can't chat up girls." I mused as I typed in my password.

"Sorry?"

"Room just across the hall, you'll find a chair in there." I said, indicating with my thumb.

Tibbi took a breath as if he was about to say something, but then he let it go and moved into the room across the hall, the other guest room. He came back carrying the desk chair and set it next to mine before sitting down as my laptop, ancient piece of crap that it was, finally warmed up.

I opened the drawer to my left and pulled out an old wooden jewellery box that had contained the watch the 'rents gave me on my sixteenth. Now I used it to store my flash drives. I picked out the one that was just plain black, I usually went for the more pleasant designs, but the Ingrid had always gone for efficiency.

I pulled out the only plain black USB clip in the box and inserted it into the drive. I clicked on the video that I wanted and hit play. The video began, the one with Mom's apology. I'd downloaded it from You Tube and removed the video so that I had access to the only copy, at least that I knew of, Ingrid probably had it saved somewhere else, but wherever it was I didn't know.

I was trying to think of anything but what was said in the video because Mom sounded so sorry and it made me feel so confused. On the one hand I was touched that Mom had made this apology, I was upset that Mom died before we got to reconcile our differences and I was angry that Ingrid had cast me out in the first place over something that was way beyond my control and that she didn't come apologise to me straight away. She did it via video will.

"Your mother disowned you because you nearly died?" Tibbi asked with a frown after the video had ended.

"Yeah." I replied. "Although part of it was because I didn't tell her I'd nearly died."

"Why would you not tell your mother that?"

"Because…" I sighed and shook my head. "I really didn't get on with Ingrid, like I said, we're too similar. And she always looked down on my sleeping around and I was usually so careful but then I was in this relationship and we were good together, until I got pregnant. Well I think he would have stayed with me if there hadn't been any problems." I held back a sob and then I felt my anger take hold. "Who am I kidding the guy was a rat. He accused me of getting pregnant on purpose, hello I was high on cough meds and kinda forgot that antibiotics cancel out the effects of the birth control pill, he was the one who was against other forms of contraception. Anyway, doesn't matter, he was a rat, he left me. Then Ingrid thought I was as promiscuous as ever and more or less said it was my fault and I'd ruined her chances of ever being a grandmother. That if I couldn't continue on the family line then there was no point in me still being in the family. It was…"

"How could she say such things to her own daughter?" Tibbi demanded in disgust.

"She was never what you'd call warm and fuzzy, not even to Grace and she was the good one. Ingrid was your typical ice queen and I have some of her tendencies, but I also got a passionate streak that I never got before because Brigham was every bit as distant as Ingrid was cold. I never really got Grace either, she didn't seem to fit in the family at all, but then we discovered that Garry was our father. That makes a lot more sense now." I babbled on. "What point was I trying to make by showing you this anyway?" I asked with a frown.

"I can't quite recall." Tibbi said.

I harrumphed as I removed the towel from my hair, rubbing it to get off the last of the excess water. "That's gonna bug me all day now."

"If it's important you will recall it." Tibbi said and he handed me my hairbrush that I stored on my nightstand and I gave him a curious look as I took it from him. "Nine sisters who are all older than me. They trained me well." He said with a wink and placed the brush in my hand.

"I guess they did." I said with an amused smile as I began pulling the brush through my hair, I was really loving the fact that it was down to my shoulders again; I should never have started those dreads. No matter what Liza said, short hair just wasn't me.

"That it hurts parents when their children leave them regardless of any falling out." Tibbi blurted out.

"What?" I asked, looking at him from beneath my de-tangling hair.

"That was the point you were trying to make by showing me this video." He clarified.

"Right." I said. "Yeah. Well like I said, me and Ingrid never saw eye to eye, but at the end of the day she's still my mom and even though she'd exiled me she really was worried when I dropped off the grid. And I kinda knew she'd been searching for me, some of my old people told me when I caught back up with them after you saved me from my own destruction. I didn't like to admit to that though, I came back because Grace had been trying to contact me to tell me my parents were dead. I came to keep her company, but she didn't need it. She had Tony, but I realised I needed her. You woke me from the fog and Grace healed me the rest of the way. I guess everyone here did, especially after I found out the big secret. Being absorbed into the family was the best thing that ever happened to me."

I finished brushing my hair and placed my brush aside. I stared at my laptop screen for a long moment before I set it to shut down and then I turned to Tibbi.

"Are you hungry?" I asked.

"A little." He admitted. "I haven't ate since early this morning when I set out on my journey."

"Then let's go get something to eat." I said, shooting to my feet and leaving the bedroom because I'd been spilling way too much to him and now I needed space to breathe.

"I have parental issues too." Tibbi said, following me down the old servant stairs to the kitchen. "I don't like my father."

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because he abandoned us when we needed him most to chase his own desires."

"I think you'll have to elaborate there." I said as I began looking through the cupboards trying to decide what to eat.

"He helped us escape from Volterra and brought us safely to America, but then he went off on his own whim to find some girl from his past before he saw us safely to our aunt. If he had but got us to Wyoming then I would understand, but he left us in New York with the entire territory of the carnivorous nomads to cross and without any knowledge of the danger we were in. We were left in the care of vegetarians who had hired a bus for us, but we were too much of a rich picking. A bus full of dhampir was too great a prize to pass up. Had Father been with us he could have defended us all, through reputation alone perhaps, but definitely with his power, but he wasn't there and we had to run and they caught us all. I will never forget those months locked in those pits…"

"What happened?" I asked, placing my hand on his arm.

"Stuff that should happen to nobody." Tibbi said darkly. "Lilly was treated the worst of all of us, she is the oldest and feels she must protect us all. And the times I stepped in to defend her then we were both punished." He said, rubbing absentmindedly at his side.

I looked up at him for a moment then pulled up his t-shirt and there was an area of puckered shiny skin on his side, it could almost have been an appendectomy scar, only they were usually neat and not as ugly as that.

"Oh god. They cut you deep and often didn't they?" I gasped, since I knew enough about dhampir healing to know that. "Oh god." I murmured again as I placed my hand over it as if I could heal it or something.

When I took my hand away it was still there, of course it was. I didn't have any magic powers, or anything at all. I was just a plain old human. But I could give comfort and I placed my lips to his scar in a gentle kiss before I straightened up and wrapped my arms around his warm solid chest and hugged him.

"I wish I could remove all that." I said. "Or better still, stopped you from experiencing it in the first place."

"We can't change the past." Tibbi said huskily as he very hesitantly put his arms around me. "Just learn and grow from our experiences."

"I'm sorry." I whispered.

"For what?"

"If you hadn't stopped to help me…"

"They would have caught me regardless." Tibbi said. "And the mist I took from your mind I stored away and used it to buffer me against the worst of the pain."

"Don't lie to make me feel better." I growled angrily.

Tibbi pushed me away from him and looked down into my eyes.

"I am not lying." He stated in a steady voice. "It's how my power works. I clarify minds and store the mist. I can use it to cause mists in the minds of others or I can use it to numb my own mind. Unfortunately it doesn't work on vampires or I could have numbed them all long enough for my siblings to escape." He said, stepping back from me and dropping his hands.

"But not you?" I realised.

"I would have crashed after that." He said. "I would have been a hindrance to my siblings."

"But they wouldn't have left you behind." I stated. "Especially Lilly."

"Lilly would not have left me." Tibbi conceded. "Thankfully the guard saved us, but lo our Father was elsewhere and has not wished to see us safe."

"Who is your father anyway?" I asked. "Lilly has never said."

"His name is Alec." Tibbi said.

"Wait. Little Alec. Sandy haired Alec who looks like a kid. Jane's brother Alec?" I exclaimed.

"That would be him." Tibbi stated.

"Oh my god! He's a father?" I asked in astonishment.

"What's so surprising? He is over fifteen hundred years old." Tibbi said with a shrug.

"I just can't imagine… Well I mean… He's got at least ten kids?"

"There are fourteen of us all together."

"Wow." I gasped. "That's a lot."

"Yes."

"So he's some kind of vampire stud?" I ventured.

"Yes, but not in the way you are implying." Tibbi replied. "You're using the slang term yes? Stud as in a handsome man who woos all the girls?"

"Yeah."

"He was not that, he was more a stud in the way of horses."

"Oh. They bred him out?" I asked, some weird pictures going through my mind of a vampire locking two people in a room together and encouraging them to mate.

"Yes. He was the only vampire Aro could trust not to kill the girls used as baby factories. He wanted to experiment making dhampir, impressed by Renesmee's powers. But other than Lilly and I, none of our siblings have powers. And the ones Lilly and I have are ones Aro wasn't interested in. That's why he abandoned the project and all I can say is good riddance. All those poor girls who died to make us, and who knows the others that died without falling pregnant?"

"But Lilly's mother is still alive. I know she's a vampire, but she's still here." I stated.

"Because Layla was the first girl Aro used and he kept his promise. Immortality as a vampire for bearing him a Coven Child. He wanted Lilly for his own end and sought to remove Layla's memories of ever having a child. He did it mid transformation and it shattered Layla's mind. Aro decided it was easier to discard the women like sweet wrappers once he had what he wanted from them."

"And Alec just want along with this time after time?" I asked in disgust.

"He had no idea." Tibbi said. "Aro had his memories removed each time and convinced him that each time was the first time he was attempting the experiment."

"Oh god." I gasped. "That's awful."

Tibbi nodded.

"He found it hard to deal with us at first, these grown-up people all his own children that he never knew he had, but once he accepted it he protected us as best he could."

"See, you don't totally hate your farther or you wouldn't be defending him." I stated. "So you're Italian right?"

"I think so." He replied with a frown.

"Then I'll cook you my old family recipe, dried spaghetti and Ragu." I said holding up the packet and the jar.

"Are these supposed to hold some significance to me?" Tibbi asked.

"Come on, you're Italian, this is pasta, you gotta like." I scoffed.

"I don't know what this pasta is." He observed.

"Really?" I asked.

"Yes." Tibbi said with a serious face but then it split into a grin. "I am teasing. But I like pasta for pasta's sake, and not because I am _Italiano_." He added, winking as he really forced his accent.

I laughed.

"I guess I'm gonna have to watch out for that humour of yours." I remarked. "So Ragu and the dried stuff ok? Or do you have some secret cooking skills you want to impress me with."

Tibbi shook his head.

"I am not allowed in the kitchen. Lilly's orders. I tend to leave stuff cook too long, and then they burn. Not so good when your food stores are limited." He explained.

"Yeah. Well I won't leave you near the stove then." I said with a smile and turned to put down the pasta and sauce and got out some saucepans. "Oh and this is the no garlic recipe, I really can't stand that stuff."

"Really? I thought I was the vampire." He remarked.

"Hey, you're kinda funny now you lost all that shyness." I observed, shooting him a smile over my shoulder.

"I feel comfortable enough to try humour." He said with a smile, still standing in the middle of the kitchen floor.

"Glad to hear." I said as I tipped the sauce into one pan and filled the other with water to boil. "You can sit down if you want to. You're making me itchy hovering like that."

"Sorry." He said as he dropped into a chair, my chair, I decided not to point that out.

"No need really. I don't like people just standing behind me when I'm doing stuff. You didn't know that but now you do."

"I'll try not to hover in future." He promised and I nodded my head as I fed handfuls of spaghetti into the boiling water and stirred the sauce. "So is there any dislikes you have that I should know about?" I asked, turning to him.

"I hate garlic. Something we have in common." He said with a grin.

I laughed as I turned back to the pan and stirred the sauce and checked on the pasta.

"Anything you like?" I asked.

"I like you." He replied.

I smiled without turning, he sounded like a kid right then and it was something I've come to realise that the dhampir can be like that, stuck in the kid rut until they decide to grow up. I guess it was the being fully-grown at eight and having parents who would never age or die that did that. And I always got the impression from Lilly that Aro had wanted her to stay more like a child. I guess it was easier to get them to stay on the island if they felt like kids who couldn't survive out in the world by themselves.

"Well that's a given." I replied as I reached down two serving plates and placed them ready. "Everybody likes me. I'm just so darn likable."

I got out the strainer and poured out the pan with the spaghetti to drain it. I hummed a little as I shared the spaghetti between the two plates. And then took the sauce off the heat. I started pouring that over the pasta.

"You don't really think that." Tibbi said suddenly. "You jest. You don't think you deserve to be liked. Why?"

"You seem to be the mind reader you figure it out." I growled, slamming the pan down onto the stove.

"Sorry." He said and I turned to see that he had his head bowed in shame.

"Look. I can do cute and bubbly, but I'm also a bit of a bitch, always have been. But then I was Prue Pearson, head cheerleader, queen bee of Olympic High. People liked me because if they didn't I put them down. Does that sound like someone who deserved to be liked?" I demanded.

"You were Cornelia?" He asked.

"What?" I demanded, completely lost.

"I was referring to a character in a show." He said. "Matters not really. She was a bitch, but she was decent beneath. The bitchiness was a defence I suppose, to keep her place as the queen of the school. She should have been un-likable, but something about her, about the fact that she could put it aside in times of need and when she loved she loved deeply. I must say I was quite taken with her, and not just because she was a beautiful woman."

I carried the plates over to the table and put one in front of his and I dropped down opposite him.

"I was a bitch, pure and simple. Still am." I said as I wound spaghetti onto my fork. "I'm never gonna change. Trouble is, a lot of people find it endearing. I have no idea why. Guess people just like to be insulted or something. Idiots." I growled and stuffed the forkful of spaghetti into my mouth so I didn't have to talk.

It was an idiot move, there was a little boiling water caught between the spaghetti and the sauce burned my mouth, but I chewed and chewed before I swallowed.

"I think they see what's beneath. They take your insults as gentle teasing. You just don't like to admit you're nice." Tibbi said, ducking his head until he caught my eyes.

"Eat your food, or we won't go swimming later." I said firmly.

"Pardon?" Tibbi said with a blink.

"That's my usual threat to Billie when she's being difficult about eating. She's a young dhampir and not quite up to realising the benefits of eating human food yet." I explained.

"Billie would be…"

"The little girl I look after. I guess you could call me the nanny. That's her parents' house, Tregarran. She's a good kid, and so smart. Hard to believe she's just about seven months old." I mused.

"Sounds like you love her." Tibbi observed.

"She's hard not to love. But then I like kids." I stated. "I did intend to become a child carer until my life took a swan dive. Kind of weird how it's happened now in a round about way."

"You are happy with your life now."

I gave that some serious thought.

"Well apart from not having a man to satisfy all my sexual cravings, yeah I'm happy. For the first time since high school I have a place in life to call my own. There's no greater satisfaction than that." I stated and scooped up the last of the spaghetti before I picked up my glass of coke and drank it back.

"How's the pasta?" I asked.

"It's…good." He said, taking another mouthful.

"You don't have to lie, you hate it." I said. "I would have done some proper food if I'd known you were coming, but I was starved."

"It's much better than what I could have cooked." Tibbi stated.

"Flatterer." I deadpanned and then sighed. "I really don't know what I should do with you now Tiberius." I murmured.

He laughed softly and took a sip of his coke.

"What's so funny?" I demanded.

"Nobody ever uses my full name." He explained. "They like to keep me the baby brother."

"I'm sure that's not the case." I said as I got to my feet to clear the plates. "Although Tibbi is kinda cute." I said and because I was so near I kissed his forehead like I did with Billie from time to time, his skin had that same furnace temperature to it, but it had an entirely different effect on me.

I didn't think as I put my hands to his cheeks and then I was kissing him, and god his lips were big and soft, and he was a little unsure, guess he didn't have a lot of make out practice at home. Then I remembered my promise and I managed to pull away and his eyes were closed for a moment, but when he opened them I saw amazement and also that spark of lust I was so familiar with in the eyes of guys who got close to me.

"Sorry." I said. "Forgot my promise for a minuet there. I'm not going to try to seduce you."

"Why?" He asked, and he looked crestfallen, like I was rejecting him, and in a sense I kind of was, but not because I didn't want him.

"Because I got dishes to do." I said, and picked up my plate and turned from him.

"I can wash." He said, whisking the plate out of my hands quickly and I jumped a little.

"Can you slow down a little?" I asked. "I'm slow bumbling human remember? Not all of us can whoosh around the place."

"Sorry. I'm not used to being around humans." He stated.

"Well you want to start getting used or how else are you gonna fit in?" I asked as he began to run a sink full of soapy water.

"You will have to teach me." He said and he turned a smile on me that stopped me in my tracks, or else I'd have to kiss him and things would go a lot further.

"I will if you're planning on sticking around." I said carefully.

"I wasn't going to. I was merely stopping by to pay my sister a visit, but I have the sudden urge to stay for as long as it's allowed." He said as he carefully placed a plate in the drainer.

"You sure you've never flirted with girls before?" I asked, giving him a sidelong glance as I started wiping the plates he was washing.

"I just have natural charm, apparently I inherited it from Father." He said with a grin that faltered quickly.

"Let's forget about parents and talk about us." I said. "Do you watch movies?"

"Yes. I stated that earlier." He replied and I had to do a quick recap over all the things we'd shared so far.

"Oh yeah, you did." I realised. "You wanna watch a movie once we're finished here? That's what I was planning to do this afternoon, just veg out, maybe kill some brain cells with a few beers. You up for it?"

"I have never drunk beer. It will be an experience." He mused.

"Seriously?"

"I am from Italy, it's wine all the way bambino." He declared and then frowned. "Not that we were ever given much in the way of alcohol, Aro wanted all our pleasure to come from the blood."

"That sucks." I said, putting the last of the clean dishes away.

"I believe his intention was for us to suck." Tibbi said dryly and I realised he was making a sarcastic joke. "After all, we are vampires."

"Lilly never calls herself a vampire." I observed, "Neither do Grace or the twins."

"You know Ithaca and Icarus?" He asked in surprise.

"No." I replied with a frown.

"But they are the twins."

"Not the twins I know." I stated. "The Black twins. Tony and Liza. Billie's older sibs."

"I forget there are more than one set of twins in the world because on the island they were the only ones." Tibbi observed.

"And I forget there are other twins beside Liza and Tony. I guess I should have just used their names." I said with a sigh. "Anyway, they call themselves half vamps or dhampir, why don't you?"

"I decided I am not half of anything. I'm a whole person and I refuse to be called half. Dhampir might not sound as bad, but it still means half vampire. Is vampire not a reference to creatures that sup on blood? In that case I am a vampire, only a lot safer to be around."

"Did you ever drink human blood?" I asked.

He turned to me, looked down into my eyes for a very long time, then sighed and turned away. He placed the washcloth carefully over the faucet then turned to the door and began moving toward it.

"Wait! Where are you going?" I demanded.

"I am leaving here before my illusions are shattered." He said mournfully.

"What illusions?" I asked.

"That you could ever love me." He replied, pausing with his hand on the door handle. "How could you when I have killed so many people? Even though we prayed for another way we were told that human blood was the only true food source and anything else was a perversion. None of those excuses matter because I am a murderer; there is no denying that. Worse, I am a cannibal."

"How?" I asked, not getting where he was coming from.

"I am part human too, is a cannibal not a creature that feeds on its own kind?" He whispered then moved closer to the door to turn the lock.

"I think you actually have to eat the flesh for that." I said, then paused. "Please tell me you didn't do that."

"That would be perversion indeed. With the blood gone what appeal does the flesh hold?" He asked, and opened the door to step outside.

I moved as fast as I could across the kitchen and took hold of his hand to stop him. He turned to me and looked at me in confusion.

"Look, we're getting to know each other." I stated. "And you're a vampire hybrid raised on an island by the designs of one of the bad vamps. That you escaped that and are trying to lead a better life is much more of a testament to your true nature than something you were made to do from birth."

"My nature is to feed on the blood of mortals." Tibbi said darkly.

"Do you do that anymore? Ever since you learned it's not so freaky to feed on animal blood?" I demanded.

"No." Tibbi said and he looked directly at me as he said it. "When Father told us that an animal diet was sufficient I fully embraced it. I am the youngest, but I was the first. Lilly followed me and where she led our siblings fell in behind."

"Then you were a victim of circumstance. You had no more control over what you ate than a prisoner. Me on the other hand, I might never have killed any one, but I've done some pretty shady stuff in my past. I even broke this girls face open and didn't feel an atom of remorse; I thought it was karma, served the bitch right for picking on my little sister. They used to call me psycho Prue. I got no excuse for that, no dietary requirements I can't ignore to excuse my behaviour. I was just a little psychotic in my young days."

"You hurt her to protect your sister." Was the thing Tibbi decided to take from that confession.

"Yeah. But it was in the worse way possible." I replied.

"What did you do exactly?" He asked.

"Tripped her up as she run along the side of the pool and she fell and smashed her face on the tiles. Didn't know it at the time, but Liza was close to turning her into the party punch, but Tony was more immune to the scent of blood and rushed her out of there. That would have been an interesting one for them to explain."

"You didn't know of the supernatural then. You could not have known the danger a young vampire would pose, or even that there was one among you. And when you tripped this viper did you know she would hurt herself so grievously?" Tibbi rationalised.

"Not really." I conceded, because I hadn't known Naomi would hurt herself quite so spectacularly. "Just thought it would be satisfying to see the bitch fall on her ass."

"Then it was a childhood prank turned serious, but not the actions of a psychopath surely?"

"I liked that she split her face open though." I stated.

"So you have a ruthless streak." Tibbi said with a shrug, then he leaned close to me until his eyes were an inch from mine. "Who hasn't?" He whispered and then he placed his lips to mine.

Despite myself I leaned into him, into his hot, strong body and his arms went around me, he had a lot more confidence now. I had my hands up on his cheeks, stroking his shaven hair that was soft like felt beneath my fingers before I remembered myself and I pulled my face away from his.

"That should not be the cue for us to be kissing." I stated.

"Taking advantage of our ruthless streak?" He asked.

"No." I said firmly and I pulled away from him, but only because he allowed me too he was about ten times stronger than me and I suddenly wasn't sure it was good to appeal to his ruthless side.

"I have spooked you." He said apologetically.

"I think I spooked myself." I said, stepping away from him. "Why don't we just back up a little here."

"Would you like me to give you platitudes of love? Bring you flowers and chocolate? Take you out to view an opera?" He suggested.

I laughed.

"Oh god, you're making it so hard for me to keep my resolve you know. You're just so damn cute."

"Bravo, I am cute." He said with a heavy sigh.

"Fine. You're hot and sexy and I want to jump your bones." I corrected.

"Then why don't you?" H challenged with that hungry light in his eyes again.

"I told you, I'm being a good girl for a change." I said primly. "I want to prove to myself that I can get to know a guy before sex is involved."

Tibbi straightened up when I said that and he looked troubled suddenly.

"Do you have sex with every man you meet?" He asked.

"If he's available." I said with a shrug.

"You have met Father." Tibbi said in horror.

"What?" Then I realised what he was hinting at. "God no. He looks like a kid. I did flirt with him, but that was to redirect the lustful twinges I was having for Liza's boyfriend who is such a hottie. I came on to him a little strong not realising who he was and Liza got all territorial so I had to reassure my little deputy that I was not after her man. I don't steal guys, that's my one rule, he has to be single."

"I am single." Tibbi said with a smile that quickly fell. "Very much single."

"Which is a good thing, but I really need to test my resolve, last until tomorrow at the very least." I stated.

Tibbi watched me for a long moment, it was kind of eerie because he had Jane's stare, but then he blinked and settled his hands down at his sides. Then he crossed his arms and gave me a playful look that again reminded me of Jane, right before she did something that was either amusing or dangerous.

"So what film were you planning on watching?" He asked.

"Dracula." I said.

He raised his eyebrows.

"Not really. I was just gonna play potluck on the TV channels. Bound to be something on." I said with a shrug.

"Then may I choose?" He asked.

"Sure." I said. "I'll grab the beers."

I got two bottles from the fridge, they were mine, Tony and Grace didn't drink apart from the odd toast. I led Tibbi into the back den. This was the room for Grace and me to crash in when we were kids so we didn't ruin any of Ingrid's pristine visiting rooms.

"Well there's the video library." I said, indicating the large array of DVDs. "Take your pick." I said as I dropped onto a beanbag.

"There are a lot of movies." Tibbi said looking along the shelves.

"Grace and me had a lot of time with the electronic babysitter when we were kids." I said, popping the cap off my bottle with an opener.

"I have picked a film." Tibbi said and held up the Lion King.

"Disney? Really?" I asked, raising my eyebrow at his choice.

"I have never seen this and I like lions." He stated without a trace of irony.

"Knock yourself out." I said, indicating the equipment.

Tibbi turned on the TV and inserted the disc into the DVD and then he came over to me and stood patiently waiting.

"Pull up a bean bag and pop a beer." I said, passing the beer to him.

He nodded and pulled the other beanbag closer to mine as the DVD run through it's warning messages to pirates. Tibbi sat down and he looked at the beer for a long moment before popping the cap with his thumb as if the top was nothing but foil. It was weird because I knew the vamps were strong, even little Billie could lift me no problem if she really put her mind to it, but the thing about the vamps I knew, even the full ones like Tobias, was that they never displayed how strong they really were. They were all so careful, Tibbi barely hid his, guess it was not really being around humans.

I pushed the thoughts away and hit the fast play to skip to the main menu. Then I hit play.

"You do realise this is a cartoon and there's singing." I stated.

"Yes." He said and leaned forward, his eyes reflecting the screen and a smile turned up the corners of his lips as the opening of Circle of Life began, and then it clicked.

"You don't know much about your African roots do you?" I said.

"No." He said. "I only know my mother came from that country. Was kidnapped by one of Aro's hunting parties and brought back as food, but Aro acquisitioned her into his plans for making children. There's not even a picture of her for me to know her face. There's no records, Aro made sure of that."

I thought about that for a moment, wondering how horrible it would be to not know where you came from. That there was nothing for me to look at and know that was my mom. How could I help Tibbi, I couldn't go back in time. There had to be some way…

"Alec know what she looks like?" I asked.

"Yes. How else do you think I am? But what good does it do me? I doubt he can draw from memory and I'm not a mind reader." Tibbi said sadly.

"No. But lucky for you my little sis's BF is a very powerful mind reader and can project images into other people's minds. I'll ask Tony if he's willing to do it, and Liza will get Alec to comply." I said firmly, because once I set my mind on something I usually got my way.

"How?" Tibbi asked.

"She's like his probation officer or something." I said, because I still wasn't one hundred percent on that. "He has to obey her or he gets the chop, or however they kill vampires."

"He was sentenced to death?" Tibbi asked, and he clearly hadn't known that.

"Yeah."

"Aunt Jane never said." Tibbi said with a frown. "She's been very cryptic about Father to tell the truth. She implied that he didn't want to see us children."

"Yeah, I got that impression from Lilly too. She missed him by like a week because he had to go back to California. It's part of his parole; he's not allowed to stray too far from Liza. It's something to do with some guy called Tantalus."

"Tantalus?" Tibbi asked.

"Yeah. Does it mean anything to you?" I asked.

"Tantalus was cursed by the gods to be forever in the presence of his hearts desire but never quite within reach." Tibbi said, and he frowned deeply this time. "She is the strumpet he abandoned us for."

"Liza is not a strumpet." I said firmly. "She's my deputy and I'd appreciate it if you didn't insult her. She doesn't want Alec fawning all over her, she's only interested in Malachite."

"That makes it better? That my Father abandoned his children for girl who doesn't love him?" Tibbi demanded.

"No. It doesn't make it better." I agreed. "But it means you can't blame Liza for this. The only one to blame is Alec, but maybe you should hear him out before you completely cut him off. I wish I'd had one last chance to talk things out with Ingrid. Now all I got is that video of her apology. That should have been face to face and we could have hugged and made up afterwards. I could have told her that I wasn't a complete loss, I can still give her grandkids, it might be a long shot naturally, but there's still a chance. There's so much we could have done, even if that meant killing each other. But the point is I could have told her everything I'll never get to say now."

"Can we forget about unreliable parents now and enjoy the talking animals. This song is good…I just can't wait to be king." He sang along.

"Yeah. Kind of a cold song for such a cute little lion cub when you think about it though." I observed. "If only he knew that dear daddy had to die to be all high and mighty."

"Are you seriously criticising a film aimed at children?" Tibbi demanded.

"Well a little more realism would be helpful." I remarked.

"Perhaps the young prince doesn't know what is required for him to become the king." Tibbi suggested.

"He might not, but his Uncle Scar sure does." I said. "He sings my favourite song in the whole film, even if it is a little off kilter. He sure knew how to call his men to arms. Or at least a sneaking coup using Simba as bait."

"You have just spoiled the movie for me." Tibbi complained, but he was teasing.

"Nah. That's the midway point. This is sort of like Hamlet." I said with a shrug.

"Interesting. Hamlet with talking animals." Tibbi mused.

"I'm gonna get another beer." I said and drained the bottle. "You want one?"

Tibbi glanced at his bottle, it was still half full, but he bolted that.

"If you are offering." He said with a wide grin.

"Just sit there kid, I'll go get you one." I said, pushing myself up to my feet from the beanbag, seriously the older you got the harder it was to escape the big bad bag of beans.

"Thank you Prue." Tibbi said with a nod of his head. "But can I ask one thing?"

"What's up?" I said, pausing on my way to the door.

"I'm at least twenty years older than you, perhaps you should not call me kid."

I grinned my dangerous smile and I stalked toward him and placed my hand to his cheeks from behind.

"I call everyone kid, don't think it makes you special." I said, and kissed the crown of his head. "So just sit tight kid and I'll get you another beer."

He grabbed my wrist, gently but firmly, and then he pulled me around until I was in his lap looking up into his face.

"Don't call me kid." He said in a low voice, all smooth and dark like velvet. "Or I'll begin to think you're one of my sisters and that's an outcome I'm sure neither of us want." He added, then placed his lips to my forehead and while I was still caught up in the delightful shiver, as Liza had put it to me once, it was a moment before I realised I was on my feet and I opened my eyes to find that Tibbi was watching me with, well I guess it could be awe. Probably amazed he'd managed to get me all flustered.

"Keep that up kid and I might not need to seduce you." I said with a wink, and then I moved quickly out of his way, running to the kitchen with a giggle, and he grabbed around me, turning me to him.

"You do not want sex today, but everything you do seems set to seduce me." He stated.

"Sometimes it seems like that when you've only got one thing on your mind." I said.

"Have you got one thing on your mind?" He asked suggestively.

"I'm a woman kid, we can have a million and one things on our mind and still function." I said as I tapped his nose lightly.

"Well as long as that one is the same as the one thought I have." He remarked.

"Oh god. I'm just gonna give in. You're way too hot and I'm much too horny." I said, and I placed my lips to his, and Tibbi melted into me for a moment, but then he pulled away.

"This is wrong." He said, looking upset. "You told me you wanted to test your resolve. I should support you not do everything in my power to counter it."

"We could always fool around a little and leave the love making for another day." I suggested.

"No." Tibbi said and stepped away. "You wish for us to be platonic today. I'll acquiesce to your wish." He added and he took my hand and kissed it. "If I try to go further, jab me right here." He said, placing my fingers to the place of his scar. "It will shock me out of my passion."

"And it won't make you turn on me?" I asked, because I'd heard enough stories along the lines of if you strike a vampire make sure it's enough to kill him otherwise the pain will piss him off more.

"You hit me hard enough in that spot I'll curl into a personal ball of pain on the floor." He stated. "Well there's that spot or the more traditional deterrent to errant men."

"I'll aim there instead." I said. "At least I know the area better, and that will be generic. I wouldn't dream of hitting you here." I stated, placing my hand gently to where I remembered his scar to be. "That's personal hurt and I wouldn't go there."

Tibbi was looking down into my eyes and then something seemed to settle on his face, possibly wonder.

"You really wouldn't take such a callous advantage." He whispered. "You're not as ruthless as you claim. That is most becoming."

"I don't hurt people unless they deserve it." I stated.

"Now that I believe." Tibbi announced.

"Weird thing is, nobody ever thought that about psycho Prue, despite the evidence that proved it." I stated.

"Sometimes people rather believe their own assumptions than to view the truth. But I will never make that mistake with you Prue. Despite your claims to ruthlessness, I know you for what you are." He said, still holding my hand to his lips.

"What am I?" I demanded.

"Someone who puts the bullies in their place to protect those who can't speak for themselves. Even if you are loathe to be cast as the hero. I would like to know more of you Prue." He kissed my hand once more. "Shall we get the beer and talk more of who we are, and nothing of abysmal parents?"

"Yeah." I said and I managed to pull away from him. "Why don't you go back to the den and I'll…I'll o grab the beer."

Tibbi nodded and headed back to the den. I managed to take a breath, and then I was able to move to the fridge to grab a couple of beers. I glanced at the bottles for a very long while, what should I do next?

* * *

**Thanks for reading **

**I'm not sure if I'll post the next chapter next week, I want to concentrate on DH and this is just a side project. I'll announce in the a/ns of Dh when I'm planning to post next.**

**Gemma x**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Twilight is the property of Stephenie Meyer**

**This chapter is dedicated to Noble, Fadewind, M-Bianca94, Alphabloodwolf, Patricia, Alexsandra, Lsb123 and BellaNessieCullen**

* * *

I woke up slowly, I could feel the hangover threaten and in this moment before engaging my brain I tried to burrow back into sleep rather than face the inevitable badness.

"Are you awake?" Someone whispered and it took a long time for my brain to even think of anything.

"Get lost. I'm hungover." I grumbled, trying to pull the sleep back around me because black oblivion was better than the hazy pain that awaited me.

I felt a hand against my forehead. A big strong hand, and the fog of old alcohol seemed to lift from my mind and suddenly I was awake and my mind was completely clear.

I opened my eyes and found that Tibbi was sat next to me, his hand on my forehead. I blinked and looked up at him.

"You can cure hangovers?" I asked.

"It's just another mist caused by toxins." He stated.

"Where have you been all my life?" I whispered.

"Lost." He replied and I smiled.

"Well I could sure get used to that instant hangover cure." I said as I sat up. "But doesn't it effect you?"

"Not until I want it to." He said with a shrug.

"I think I'm in love with your power." I stated. "It's the first one I've heard of that has any real world value."

"It is at your full disposal if you so desire." He said with a solemn bow.

"Oh I desire." I said, looking up into his eyes. "And I will thank you for it later. I mean really thank you. But right now I'm hankering for some breakfast. You want pancakes?"

"Are they better than your spaghetti?" He asked cautiously.

"You bet your ass they are." I said, shooting to my feet. "Come on." I said and pulled him up. "Whoa! Did you give me a dose of vamp strength when you flushed out the hangover?" I asked.

"No. I am merely enjoying the gentle buzz of the alcohol that was still in your system." Tibbi said with a smile that wasn't quite there. "Or maybe it's my own. I drank, how many bottles?"

"Four." I said. "We've cleared me out. Anyway, let's go grab some pancakes. Celebrate my not giving into my baser urges and just enjoying your company last night."

"We did not make love, it is good for you, but I can't find the will to celebrate." Tibbi remarked.

"That's cause you're a man and well you've never had sex so it's something you're looking forward to." I stated.

"I am not a complete novice." He murmured as I led him to the kitchen.

"You're not?" I asked in surprise because he'd been giving off the vibes big time.

"No." Tibbi said quietly. "Those women you spoke of in Volterra, they were cold and craved warmth. I hated them, hated their cold…"

"What?" I said, and stopped just before we entered the kitchen. "Did they…"

Tibbi looked away and I felt a sudden wave of anger. But I wasn't angry with Tibbi, it was with those damn vampiresses in Volterra and whatever they put him through. I placed my hand to his cheek and looked into his eyes.

"I won't do that to you." I said firmly. "I like guys who want me, or where's the fun?"

"They were not interested in the fun. Just the warmth." He said in a flat, matter of fact way, but the hurt beneath it was clear.

I didn't know what to say. I could only stroke his cheek softly then hug him tight. If I had the power I would have gone to Volterra and torn apart every woman who dared lay a hand on my poor innocent Tibbi.

"I don't want to think of the sadness." Tibbi whispered. "It is the past. I am here with you now, a beautiful and warm Venus." He placed his nose to my hair and inhaled deeply. "My delicious Prue."

I felt shivery, in the delightful way.

"Let's eat first." I said. "Got to fuel up them tanks." I added, looking up into his dark caramel eyes.

"Fuel up them tanks?" Tibbi asked.

"Well, what I have in mind takes an awful lot of energy." I stated. "Besides, I really need to eat." I kissed his lips in a brief peck then led him into the kitchen.

"Prue? Could you teach me to make these pancakes?" He asked as I started gathering the ingredients.

"I thought you couldn't cook." I replied.

"I can't. But I'd like to help you as much as I can." He stated.

"I guess it's never too late to learn how to cook." I mused. "And pancakes are easy when you get the heat of the pan right. Come on, I'll show you the old family recipe."

"Would it happen to contain the words 'shake' and 'bake'?" He asked with a teasing grin.

"Oh Tibbi you wound me." I said in mock exasperation, imitating how Liza would say it. "The pasta I might not be so good with, but pancakes are another matter."

"Then I am looking forward to them most greatly." He said with a bow and the set of his face was so majestic.

"I'll make you a breakfast worthy of a king." I said, kissed him and led him back into the kitchen.

I talked him through the process as I made the pancakes. I figured that I could show him today and get him to make them tomorrow. Or whenever really because I didn't plan on letting him go now I finally had him. That was worrying and obsessive; I had to be careful of that. Liking was one thing, even loving was ok, but I wouldn't stand obsession. That way lay madness.

"These are very good pancakes." Tibbi observed as he finished off his plate. "I have tried these at other places in America, it seems to be a must. These are the best."

"Flatterer." I joked. "Anyway, now that we're fed what would you like to do?"

"Whatever you'd like." He replied. "I have very little experience in this field. Please give me guidance."

"Well first of all I got to tell you, be more assertive. I'll tell you what to do when it needs telling, but I really would like to know what you want to do. We don't have to jump straight into bed, we can work toward it. You want to go swimming and come back here later? Or would you like to go for a meal and a movie?"

"A date?" He asked, looking suddenly eager.

"Of course it would be a date. I'm not a total skank." I said primly. "I do like a little wooing from my lovers."

"Wooing. I could attempt that." Tibbi whispered and his lips were close to mine.

"I have no doubt you'd succeed." I replied. "But if we are going out then we should get dressed."

"Dressed?" He asked. "I left my bag at the other house."

"Then we'll just go get it." I said and stood and went to get my keys from the dish.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Tibbi asked, stopping my hand as I reached for the door.

"Sure." I said, because I really wanted him to have some say in all of this.

"You showed me your fast car yesterday. Can I show you how I move fast?" He asked.

"I thought you'd never ask." I said with a smile.

"You'll allow me to carry you?" He asked, clearly amazed.

"Well I can't run that fast myself." I countered. "And seriously, I've been bugging Grace and Tony for ages to show me what vamp speed is like, but they haven't. I guess it would be weird for my sister to carry me like that, and all kinds of wrong for Tony to do it."

"What about me?" He asked.

"I think it would be just about right." I said with a smile. "And I guess I won't be needing these." I said as I dropped my car keys back into the bowl but took a firm hold on the keys for Tregarran. "And we're better off using the back door. That's where Grace and Tony always go from. They got a path they always use."

"It would make sense to use the same path." He observed.

"You got a good sense of smell right? I mean all you vamps have." I stated as I thought a way he could stay on track since I don't think I could actually direct him through the woods.

"Yes." He confirmed.

"You could track their path since they use it all the time. Just so you don't get lost. Do you need something of theirs to get the scent?"

"Like a bloodhound?" Tibbi asked and raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry, bad plan." I said.

"I was kidding." Tibbi said with a smile. "But I don't need a garment. They live here too. I can pick their scent out from yours. I can follow the trail."

"Then we'll go out the back door." I said and led him back through to the kitchen and out into the back yard.

And now we stopped because suddenly it seemed so awkward. Normally I'd be up in his arms or on his back without a care in the world. Now though, now it would mean something, there were emotions involved. Complicated, confusing emotions, and maybe it would help if Tibbi was more assertive. He looked at me for a long moment, and then he moved quickly and I was cradled in his arms, holding about his neck.

"I have their scent." He whispered and then he was running, and god it was fast.

The wind whipped around us and I looked ahead as trees sped past. It was amazing and I realised that this was why Tony chose to run. I'd always imagined that was the reason, but now I had it confirmed.

We were outside Tregarran before I was even aware of it and Tibbi didn't stop in the yard. He pushed open one of the French doors to the poolroom and stepped inside before he placed me down.

"Wow." I murmured. "That was amazing."

Tibbi smiled, his hands still hovering about my waist.

"Would you like to be able to run that fast yourself?" He asked.

"That question is a bit personal." I stated and stepped away from him. "Go grab your bag while I lock the doors in here. Don't want other people getting in when we're gone."

I turned to the door we came through and shot the bolt before turning the fixed key. Behind me Tibbi took a breath, then let it go. Then I heard him take another breath, but I didn't turn, we'd been entering dangerous territory there.

"I see." He said. "I was merely curious to know if you'd like to be able to travel at those speeds. I was not suggesting that you become a vampire. You're perfect how you are, warm and soft, why would I want you cold stone?"

I turned around and Tibbi looked sincere.

"I'm sorry." I said. "I get itchy about commitment and that was starting to sound an awful lot like commitment."

Tibbi looked confused.

"My mind works weird like that sometimes." I said. "You were asking me if I'd like to run that fast. To run that fast I'd have to be a vampire. To be changed into a vampire for you would be making myself vulnerable to you. I'd be the one doing all the changing. I'd be the one who gave up everything when the relationship goes south. I'd be the one who lost everything."

"I'd never ask you to change for me." Tibbi said, suddenly in front of me with his hands either side of face.

"So you don't want me forever?" I asked.

"I only met you yesterday. It's much too early to decide such a thing." He said, dropping his hands.

"Not so good at the commitment thing yourself then." I stated.

"I have no idea." Tibbi said with a shrug. "I've never had the opportunity to find out."

"I guess not." I conceded.

"May I make an observation?" He asked.

"Knock yourself out." I replied, but I was ready to slam down the shades of denial.

"Although you do have a problem with commitment, I don't think it's what caused your animosity of a moment ago. Do you think a lot about becoming a vampire? Of course you do you're surrounded by the supernatural. It's something that intrigues you and repels you at the same time. You'd like to live forever but you're unsure if the price is worth it. You worry you'll be a different person when you're cold and made of stone."

"How…" I shook my head. "How can you know that?" I demanded.

"I was merely hypothesising." Tibbi replied.

"Well, you're right." I said. "I'd like to live forever, I mean who wouldn't? But I don't want to be a vampire. I mean if I could be like Grace then I'd like that, but she's a freaky one off."

It was clear Tibbi didn't know what to say; he just grabbed me and hugged me close to him. It was weird a guy hugging me just to give me comfort, usually it was to cop a feel. I let him hug me, enjoyed it actually. Who knew there could be so much satisfaction in a hug? So much comfort too, it was hard not to feel loved.

"I would keep you forever if I could." Tibbi whispered in Italian. "But I'll have you for as long as you'll have me."

I didn't react, I was certain he didn't think I knew Italian, I just continued to enjoy his hug. After a few minuets I decided that we should probably get moving, so I placed a kiss to his cheek and then stepped away.

"We should grab your bag." I said, taking his hand and gesturing for him to lead the way to wherever he'd dropped it.

Turned out it was just inside the rec room by the door from the pool. It was one of those big sports holdalls, easy to sling over his shoulder.

"I dropped it there in shock." He said ducking his head shyly. "I honestly thought I was witnessing Venus rising from the foam. Then I realised it was the girl from the field and that was even better."

"How did you think I was Venus when I was scruffy and covered in dirt?" I asked because I was really curious about that.

"I told you, you had an inner light." He said and he was honest. "You were a goddess trapped on earth and I wished to set you free."

"You sure know how to make a girl feel special." I whispered and stroked his cheek and placed a kiss to his lips.

I pulled back for a moment and then Tibbi's arms were around me and we were kissing so passionately. I could feel the hunger in his kisses and I knew this was only going one place unless I reined him in soon.

I pulled my lips from his and shook my head as he went to kiss me again.

"Not here." I said. "This is Billie's home, it wouldn't be right. Let's get back to the Stables and then I'm all yours."

"Then lets go." Tibbi said, placing his fingers beneath my chin and giving me a short sweet kiss.

He swung his bag over his shoulder, then somehow managed to lift me too before he moved quickly down to the garage. He placed me down when it was obvious we weren't gonna get out this way.

"Come on." I said, and took his hand and led him through the kitchen to use the back door.

I locked up and when he went to lift me I shook my head and took his hand.

"Let's just stroll." I said. "I'd like to know what you think of my forest."

"You own this forest?" He asked as if it was a real possibility.

"Not really, but it's close enough to my house." I observed.

"Yes." He agreed. "And a stroll sounds delightful."

He offered his arm to me like some old time gentleman and I linked my arm through it with a smile. This was new territory for me. A guy wanting to get in my pants and acting like a complete gentleman. Usually they tried for the macho edge. I always dominated, but they felt they had to impress me. Tibbi was impressing me with his mannered behaviour.

We walked up the incline that brought the kitchen yard level with the rest of the garden. We didn't say anything for a while, not until we were halfway between Tregarran and the Stables, somewhere north of the old Cranston farm.

"Are we on your land now?" He asked.

"Well, we're not on Billie's land anymore." I replied because I knew that's what he was really asking.

He nodded and carried on a few more long strides before he dropped his bag and suddenly his arms were around me and my back was against a tree as he kissed me. His lips brushed mine at first and I moved my mouth encouraging the kiss to go further. He responded, even if every change was slightly hesitant at first, but then he seemed to let himself just go with it, and once he lost that restraint the kisses became intense. Then I decided to ratchet things up a notch and I slid my tongue across his lips. He froze for a nanosecond, but then he loosened up again and his tongue tangled with mine and god it was good. I hadn't made out like this in years and it made me feel young again, like high school young and being head over heels for the cute music nerd who proved a lot more experienced than I'd guessed. Weird, I couldn't even remember his name now, but he'd taught me to expect pleasure and demand it if I didn't get it.

I didn't need to demand it now; Tibbi seemed to be pushing all the right buttons just by being near me. His mouth against mine was making my body thrum and I knew I was working up to one awesome orgasm if this continued. Of course it would continue, why would I stop this?

I let out a moan as his lips moved to along my jaw and then down the side of my neck. He'd brought his hands into play, his left hand was on my waist and now his right hand was moving up, stroking my side in a smooth line before he began to pull aside the collar of my t-shirt and his lips moved to the new flesh that was exposed.

I pushed him away for a moment and he stood panting a little looking hurt. I caught his eye, gave him my best flirtatious smile and then pulled off my t-shirt. I was wearing a bra, not that it mattered, he'd already seen me naked. Anyway, he was looking at me in shock, but I pulled him back to me and enjoyed the contrast of his warm smooth body at the front and the cool, rough bark of the tree digging into my back.

Tibbi pulled me away from the tree enough to slip his arm up my back and his hand covered enough that I didn't feel the tree anymore, just the warmth radiating from his palm seeping into my skin. It was adding to the fire slowly burning its way through my flesh. It was divine to be engulfed by the flames.

Tibbi lifted me and I wrapped my legs around his waist as he began kissing down my neck again and following a path to my cleavage. That was exquisite and I let out a moan as he began to linger in that area.

Just as things were getting good the Washington skies lived up to their reputation and opened up in an almighty downpour. Even the trees didn't offer much in the way of shade and we were getting drenched. Tibbi pulled away from me for a moment and looked up into my eyes. In a lightening fast movement he stepped back from the tree and twisted me around until I was clinging to him piggyback style. He ducked down, picked up his bag and my t-shirt, and then took off running back to the Stables.

He dropped me near the door and I unlocked it quickly and pulled him inside. He dropped his bag and pulled me to him as he pushed the door closed by backing into it. We kissed right there, up against the door, and then there really was no more waiting. I pressed my lips to his in a final kiss before I pulled away and when I went to walk he pulled me back to him.

"Come on." I said, pulling on his hand but he didn't move.

I kissed him again and smiled at him before taking a step back and I puckered my lips at him. Tibbi closed the gap and his lips were on mine, his hands moving over the naked wet skin of my torso and creating trails in the raindrops. I let the kiss linger for a moment before I began moving. I hooked my fingers over the waistband of his jeans, pulling him with me, my lips still against his, toward the stairs. I knew the layout of the kitchen well so I didn't bump into a thing, but Tibbi's steps were a little hesitant, I guess he'd never done this.

When I reached the foot of the stairs I broke from his lips, took his hand and led him up them. I led him into my room and shut the door. I turned to find him shivering slightly and it was only at this point I realised just how soaked we both were.

"Let's get these off." I said and started to lift his t-shirt.

Tibbi pulled it over his head and dropped it to the floor.

"And the rest." I said, kicking off my shoes and pulling off my sweats and adding them to the pile. "You don't want to catch a chill. Got to get rid of them clothes and get warm and dry."

Tibbi didn't move, he seemed frozen again as he looked at me. I stepped toward him and wrapped my arms around his neck and placed my lips to his. He was rigid for a moment, then melted into me. His arms came up around my back, tracing the line of my spine, and brought his shaking hands to my waist where his fingers explored the elastic of my panties but didn't delve below it.

I brought my own hands down to the waistband of his jeans and unzipped them. I pushed them down and he stepped back enough to kick off his own shoes and remove his jeans.

I took his hand again and led him over to the bed. He could go shy on me here so I decided to make it as easy as possible for him. When I reached the bed I let his hand go then slid under the covers. He took a breath, as if he was egging himself on, then climbed under the covers with me.

He was shaking, oh so nervous of me. I lay facing him and stroked his arm in comfort, secretly noting how delicious his biceps felt beneath my fingers. I placed my lips to his and he was still trembling as his fingers fumbled over the skin of my side.

I leant closer to him until he turned onto his back and lay beside him to start kissing down his chest. Normally I would have straddled him, but I didn't want to freak him out too early. He was oh so nervous and I realised that although he had experience, those bitches in Volterra had probably treated him as nothing more than a sex-bot. They might as well have used a vibrator and a hot water bottle for the warmth.

It was in that moment that I decided this first time I would put all the pleasure on his side of the court. I knew many ways to give him pleasure, a lot of them I could get my own pleasure from him at the same time. For once my free and easy teen years were a real advantage and not just an imagined one.

I lifted my head and rested with my arms either side of him. I looked down at him until he looked up into my eyes.

"Will you trust me?" I asked.

Tibbi nodded.

"Then let me lead, you'll like this." I stated.

Tibbi nodded again and I smiled and stroked along his cheek before I leant forward and ran my lips from his chin to his nose before I covered his mouth with mine. I teased his tongue as I let my hand slip below the covers and beneath his underpants and began to tease him until he was gasping against me.

I pulled my hand away and turned on my back a moment so I could remove my underwear. I removed Tibbi's too and then he seemed to come alive. He was all over me, his hands caressing places I'd never been touched before, and I'd been touched more or less everywhere. Actually it was more the way he was touching me, he knew all the right spots.

I gasped and looked at him in shock, he'd seemed so inexperienced, and now, well now he was a pro. He knew how to tease my mouth before kissing down my body. The covers were completely thrown off now, he wasn't shy. He knew how to really push my buttons and I was boiling up as I pushed him onto his back with a growl.

I straddled him this time and gave him a sample of the Prue good time show. He was a melting puddle of pleasure by the time I was finished. There was a reason all the guys wanted me in high school, I didn't put out, I took them to another dimension. Tibbi was close to bursting by this time and he was still inexperienced enough that I wasn't sure how much longer he'd last so I reached into my bedside drawer and kit him out.

I was on birth control, and my chances of actually conceiving was minimal thanks to what I'd been through, but that time…that time had made me wary and I didn't want to go through it again unplanned and unsupported. Too much protection was better than none at all.

I rolled onto my back and encouraged Tibbi on top of me. He was all awkward again and I had to keep instructing him and encouraging him until we were well into the movement and everything else left my mind and I was riding the wave of my orgasm as Tibbi experienced his own above me.

When it was over he collapsed against me for a moment and I stroked the back of his neck and down his back. I kissed his cheek softly, revelling in the lingering little after shocks. Then he lifted his head and his hands were stroking back my hair on either side.

"You are beautiful." He whispered. "All of you is beautiful."

"You know, you're supposed to say that before you get the girl in the sack, not afterwards." I joked.

"How could they make you feel ugly?" He asked in shock. "You are the divine goddess Venus, I'm certain of that now. After everything you just showed me how could you not be?" He whispered as his fingers traced my lips.

"Oh my angel, you say the perfect things." I whispered back and I felt a tear escape down my cheek.

"Why are you crying?" Tibbi asked in confusion as he caught my tear and examined it on the end of his index finger.

"I'm not really." I said, pushing back a sob. "I just never felt so loved before. I've had a hell of a lot of partners and more sex than you could imagine in a lifetime, but mostly it's been empty, meaningless mechanics. There's been one or two guys who came close, but this was…" I hugged him firmly to me. "This was love making."

Tibbi hugged me in agreement before he moved slightly so he wasn't on top of me. He settled with his head on my chest in a way that allowed him to look at me. I lifted my hand to his head and began stroking his hair and ear as he pulled the blankets back up around us.

"You deserve to be loved always." He said and wound his fingers in my hair and stroked my scalp by my ear. "I will make sure of this."

"I know you will." I said, and leant my head down to kiss is forehead. "You're just so…awesome." I observed.

"I've never felt it like that before. With the rushing and the warmth. You're so warm." He said, and then drew in a deep breath. "And your scent is wonderful. You are so alive…" He trailed off and it was clear his mind was starting to close down in its bath of endorphins. "You showed me so much."

I smiled and stroked his hair, encouraging him to doze, it was kinda right and I found myself drifting too. I drifted into a catnap, just a nice hazy place somewhere between waking and sleeping. Tibbi's body was a nice warm weight against me as I stroked his fuzzy hair. The sound of his steady breathing was almost hypnotic and I was in a ridiculously happy state. It was the best high I'd ever experienced and I was certain that I wouldn't experience the crash. This was the best high imaginable and I couldn't wait for more.

I wasn't completely aware of the passage of time but it felt like I'd been drifting there for an hour when Tibbi gave a start and sat up quickly.

"I fell asleep. I'm sorry." He said looking as if he was waiting for em to punish him.

"Not really." I said, sitting up myself. "More of a catnap really. And it's ok if you do. We were cuddling anyway, just enjoying and relaxing in the after glow. It's all part of good satisfying sex."

"It is?" He asked.

"Of course." I said, and then I realised something. "Vamp chicks don't sleep. I bet they didn't let you either, at least not in their bed."

"I had to stay awake as long as they had use of me." Tibbi said quietly. "They were so cold I didn't want to fall asleep with them. But sometimes I did and they would punish me."

"They were idiots not to appreciate everything you have to offer." I said as I hugged him.

He put his arms around my waist, hugging me back as he leant his head on my shoulder. He placed his lips to my neck and I hummed.

"That feels good." I whispered. "That's the sweet spot."

"The sweet spot?" He asked, his lips brushing my skin as he spoke.

"Well one of my sweet spots." I replied. "It's one of those places that makes me all shivery. Have you got any?" I added and ran my nose along the line of his jaw before I started kissing at that point just below his ear.

He shivered and I smiled as I snuggled in closer to him for a long moment, then I pulled away.

"I'm gonna shower now and get dressed." I stated. "We can still go on that date you know. Save us having to cook."

"I am much anticipating our date." He said with a smile and then he kissed me.

I let myself go with the kiss for a moment as his thumbs messaged the small of my back. That was another sweet spot, but I could let him know about that later or we'd never leave this bed. I ended the kiss and placed a last one to his cheek before I moved away from him and slipped off the bed to use my en suite.

I didn't bother to shut the door, Tibbi could come in if he wanted. Not that I thought he would, not yet. He was a mixture of having experienced, but he'd never really enjoyed himself. You would have thought women with centuries of experience behind them could at least show him a little courtesy. In all my experience I'd found that the pleasure was much better when it was mutual between both partners. But then maybe Tibbi just hadn't felt right enough to enjoy himself. I shivered, and not in the delightful way, as I imagined what it was like to feel all that cold against you instead of the delightful heat. Even if the vampire was one of the veggies I couldn't…

Well take Tobias, he's good looking, in the short pale kind of way, and he's a really decent guy, but I really don't know how Essie can do it. Would she if there wasn't some mystical force pushing them together? Would she be able to stand his cold then?

It was there in the shower that I decided I would never become a vampire. I'd only just met Tibbi, but he had a lot of potential. I didn't want to ruin that by becoming something he'd despise. No, it was better for me to stay human and live out my life like I should. I was certain Tibbi would stay with me, and if he didn't, well I'd just find someone else. I knew I could have anyone I wanted.

Not that I wanted to do that. It was depressing, the dating scene. Most of my hook ups were one night deals and even the ones that blossomed into what resembled a relationship was nothing but smoke and mirrors. The magic was just an illusion and soon wore thin. Actually I could only think of one guy I'd considered a true future prospect, and that had been Hunter before he went and got himself imprinted and so he was definitely off the menu. That left Tibbi, but not in the sense that he was my only option, because I know deep inside that there's more to this than just animal attraction. There's a lot more to it.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I was standing in front of the mirror just staring at my reflection already having showered by the time I focused. I wrapped a towel around my hair and pulled on my slinky dressing gown and headed beck into the bedroom. Tibbi was gone, and it hurt, but I wouldn't let it fester. Some guys just took off after sex, some girls too. I'd done it often enough myself.

Then I heard the squeaky floorboard right outside my room and Tibbi stepped through the door, a sheet tied around his waist and his holdall in his hand.

"I went to get my clothes." He explained. "Perhaps you could pick out something appropriate for me to wear. I've never been on a date."

"Really?" I asked to hide my relief.

He shook his head.

"I don't want to be too formal, so my official meeting with the council attire is out of the question. The clothes I am accustomed too may seem strange in these climes where it is colder and wetter. Then there are the clothes I have adopted for these lands, but I think they may be too casual. Those are all I have with me for I expected nothing so special." He explained.

"Ok. Let's have a look." I said, and I took his bag off him and swung it onto the bed and unzipped it.

It was very scarce of clothing, just one extra pair of jeans, a few t-shirts, a fleece for the look of things and some clean undies. Not particularly the type of clothes adequate for the date I had in mind. But holding up one of Tibbi's t-shirts something snagged in my mind. Really it was hard to tell just by looking at Tibbi, but he was around the same build and height as Brigham.

"Come with me." I said, and took his hand and led him to the room that used to belong to my parents.

It was now held as some sort of shrine because Grace was adamant I couldn't use it until she'd sorted through their crap. It had been six years so I didn't think it was likely she'd get around to it any time soon. I'd offered to do it for her, but I think she was worried that we'd find out some other secrets about them. I mean the whole wolf hunter thing was bad enough, not to mention the truth about our parentage, but maybe she was really worried she'd find one of the 'rents' old sex vids. They were bound to have made one.

Anyway, I wasn't likely to find one rummaging amongst Brigham's suits, holding a few up to Tibbi until I found one that complimented his dark skin. I found a black one, Italian cut, which was appropriate, single breasted and made of finely woven chiffon. I found a black shirt and a red tie, I could match that to my dress and besides, it brought out the warm glow of his eyes.

"Perfect." I said with a smile. "Just go and use my shower, or the one in the guest room if you want some privacy."

Tibbi looked into my eyes as he pursed his full lips thinking. He smiled and I noticed a dimple in his cheek that was so cute.

"I will use the shower in the guest room, but not for privacy. I just don't want to spoil the surprise of how damn hot I'll look in this suit." He said with a grin.

"Narcissist." I said and kissed him.

"Perhaps." He replied. "But I was covering, because really I don't want to be tempted to peek before you are dressed and prepared for me to see you."

"I don't mind you watching me dress." I stated.

"Yes. But we should have a grand unveiling." He said, looking a little on the excited side. "To show off the works of art that we have become. You are divine beauty my Prue, and now you go to frame the work of art that you are. I'd rather wait to savour the finished product."

"Ok. You don't want to see me do all the lady stuff, like plucking my eyebrows and seeing me in that strange state where I got half my make up on and the definition of my face is out of whack. I get that. I'll respect that. So go use the guest room shower and make yourself look all suave and tasty and I'll meet you on the landing in an hour."

"I will meet you then." Tibbi said and kissed me for a moment before he disappeared into the room he'd got the spare chair from.

I took a deep breath to push down the tickling heat I was starting to feel again, and I went back to my room. I shut my door and settled down in front of my mirror and started to make myself pretty. I'd only been joking about the plucking, but there were few stray wisps so I got rid of them. Then I dried my hair and run the straightening irons over it until it was a sleek, blond curtain that brushed my shoulders.

Although I was loving the fact that my hair was starting to get long again, the evening I had in mind needed an up-do. I started restyling my hair until it was exactly how I wanted it. A clip covered in rubies placed in exactly the right place would add the right amount of sparkle.

Then I started on my make-up, I still didn't need foundation, I preferred to make the most of my translucent Nordic skin. And my eyes, well a little shading and a border of mascara was enough to make the blue of my eyes pop. My lips I went with a simple stain of red that tied into my dress, I could have been Aurora from Sleeping Beauty.

My makeup and hair done I went and flicked through my dresses until I came to the one I was looking for. It was a gorgeous gown in red chiffon that fell in a Roman cut. I was certain it wasn't a right colour for Venus, and I should probably wear a crown of myrtle and roses, but I didn't want to make Tibbi think that I really was the goddess Venus.

I got into the dress and then pulled on my sparkly red sandals with the inch heel. It would make me six foot, just like Tibbi and I felt that little thrill of being the same height as my date. I selected my jewellery, all gold and rubies and then regarded myself in the full-length mirror.

I liked how I looked, even when I added the velvet shawl and the little red leather clutch bag. I needed the bag, I had a feeling Tibbi wouldn't have much in the way of cash on him. Not that I minded, but I wanted to make sure I could pay.

There was a gentle knock at my door, and I knew Tibbi was ready. I walked to my door, took a deep breath and then opened it. I felt my mouth fall open as I took in the sight of him. I couldn't…my mind was blank to come up with anything. I was just bowled over by the hotness of him.

Tibbi was reviewing me as intently as I reviewed him. We couldn't talk or move for a long time. We were just looking at each other, drinking in the sight. He was so yummy in that fine cut suit, the dark of the material brought out the depth of his skin tone and the red tie really did make the warmth in his eyes more apparent.

"All that's missing is the crown of myrtle." Tibbi finally whispered as he took my hand and kissed it. "Now what are we to do sweet Prue? And perhaps you could provide me with shoes?"

I blinked and looked down at his feet. He was wearing a pair of dark socks and he wiggled his toes. Just looking down it was apparent his feet were way bigger than Brigham's.

"Tony's should fit." I said, and I took his hand and led him to Grace's room. "Just wait here. Grace will be pissed enough knowing I went in there, she'd be mortified if she knew I took you in there too."

"You have to be careful in dealing with your siblings." Tibbi observed.

I nodded before I went into Grace's room that she shared with Tony now. He'd even brought his own wardrobe in here, although that was kinda sweet in that he didn't want Grace to lose closet space because of him. I opened his wardrobe door and found that his shoes were arranged neatly down the left side in little pigeonholes for each pair. There was a neatly written label on each shelf, not Grace's writing, or Tony's either. Nope, that was definitely the neat but curly writing of my deputy and I wondered when Liza had organised Tony's wardrobe and how long he'd been living with the same system.

I found a pair of shiny dress shoes that would go well with what Tibbi was wearing. I took them to him and he tried them on.

"They fit." He stated and bent down to tie the thin laces with expert ease. "How do I look now?" He asked, straightening up and smoothing down his lapels.

"Perfect." I said and brushed my lips close to his cheek, but not enough to transfer my lipstick. "Now let's get going, I know the perfect place to go where the name Pearson carries some weight. Means we won't have to book, just turn up."

We had to take my car this time and I kept the roof up because it was still raining.

"I'm glad the place we're going has valet parking and a _porte_-_cochère__ because this doesn't look like it's gonna be stopping any time soon._" I stated.

"Does it rain often here?" He asked.

"Often? That's an understatement." I replied. "I'm surprised we haven't evolved gills. Can you imagine me with gills?"

Tibbi laughed.

"You would still be attractive." He said and his fingers brushed against my neck for a moment and I felt myself melt a little.

"Ok. That's real nice…very nice. You probably shouldn't do it when I'm driving or I might just cause us to crash." I warned.

"Then I won't do it when you are driving." He said, folding his hands together and placing them on his knees.

I smiled at him, then turned my attention back to the road.

"Could you teach me how to drive?" Tibbi asked after a while.

"If you want me to." I replied. "Maybe we could drive into town tomorrow and pick up a form for a learner's permit. As soon as that comes through I'll start your lessons."

"Not before then?" He asked.

"Do you want to get in trouble with the law?" I countered.

Tibbi shook his head emphatically.

"Then we need to do this properly, although, can you do an American accent and get the relevant documentation to appear as a native? It'll be much less work for us and you'll be official. We won't have to worry about visas and other crap then."

"I think Jane could arrange that for me." He said and actually sounded American.

"Then you'll probably have to get hold of her first to get all the paperwork so we can send off for your permit." I stated.

"I will ring her in the morning." He said. "I could do it now, but she can keep you on the phone for hours."

"Then please leave it for the morning."

Tibbi nodded.

"How long will we travel for?" He asked after ten minuets where we just listened to the radio.

"Another ten minuets and we'll be in Ridgeborough." I stated. "Depending on traffic should take us five to ten minuets to reach the restaurant then."

"I thought the town was Olympic Pines." Tibbi said with a frown.

"Well I live in Olympic Pines, but we're a small place. If you want to do anything special you have to drive into Ridgeborough."

"I see." Tibbi replied. "I will have to know these things?"

"Yeah." I said. "Although I'll always be a willing navigator."

"Always would be nice." Tibbi said with a smile that got me to thinking.

"If there was a way for me to live forever that didn't mean I became a stone cold vampire would you want me to take it?" I asked.

"If it was your choice to do so I wouldn't have an objection." He said. "I will cherish you for as long as you'll have me."

"Wow." I murmured as I gripped the steering wheel.

"Would you…be willing…to have me…forever?" He asked, and when I glanced at him he was looking down at his hands.

"I must be." I said. "Because I haven't told you a definite 'hell no'."

"That is not reassuring." Tibbi said softly.

"I'm sorry." I said. "I'm not really a commitment person. It's hard for me to say those types of words. But I can see us being together. Oh my god, you're the one." I realised and I had to pull the car over and hit the brakes or risk crashing.

"Prue?" Tibbi asked timidly as he put his hand on my shoulder.

I looked at him and I felt afraid. I'd never had these feelings before, not even with Hunter, and he was the closest I ever got to imagining a guy in my future. There was something else at work here. When I looked into Tibbi's warm caramel eyes I could see us together years from now, kids playing around our feet.

"It's so beautiful." I whispered and I pulled him to me, kissing him in one long moment. "Our future is beautiful."

"You'll be with me?" He whispered.

"As long as I can." I promised and then we were kissing like our lives depended on it.

I pulled away to catch my breath and I looked into his eyes, feeling lost because I'd never felt this connection with anyone before. Now I knew what they all meant, about the knowing. This was fate or whatever.

"Will you marry me?" I asked.

"Yes." Tibbi replied.

I pulled away from him as I felt a sudden flutter of fear, god, what had I just done?

"Good." I said and pulled back onto the road. "Then we'll be together forever. But right now we're gonna do the dating thing. We do this in the right order. We date, we fall in love, we marry, we have sex."

"We are already out of order on at least one of those things." Tibbi said carefully.

"We're already out of order on two of those things." I stated.

"I concur." Tibbi said. "I am in love with you."

"You can't know that." I said sadly. "How could you be? I'm an object of lust, but not an object of love."

"Can I recall your attention to something you told me earlier?" He said calmly.

"What's that?" I asked, cause I'd said a lot of things earlier.

"You said that you have had much sex, but that was the first time you'd made love." He stated. "For me it was the same. I know lust, I have felt it for actresses on screen. I know love, I feel it for my siblings. For you I feel both. Is that not what one should feel when in love?"

I bit my lip trying to hold back the sudden burst of emotion that I felt. A tear still escaped my eye.

"You're crying again." Tibbi whispered and he caught the tear on his finger again.

"I can't help it." I said, grabbing a Kleenex from the compartment and dabbed at my eyes to save my mascara. "I've always separated my emotions from sex and lust. Now that it's all merging I'm a mess." I admitted.

"I love you honestly." Tibbi said. "You have not left my mind since the field. You have haunted me since that brief encounter. I thought I'd go mad. That's why I volunteered for Aunt Jane. I would rather die than be haunted by those images."

"What did she want you to do?" I asked, because I suddenly remembered that even Lilly hadn't known it was so top secret and I wondered if he'd actually tell me anything.

"I went undercover. Allowed myself to be kidnapped and then the guard came to disable that one enclave. I could have died, but it was better than seeing the beautiful goddess trapped on earth forever in my mind when I couldn't make her my own. Death seemed the better option."

"That's crazy talk." I said.

"But I had no reason to live." He stated.

"What about you brothers and sisters?" I demanded.

"They can live without me." He replied and the sad thing was, he really believed that, so I couldn't be angry, just sympathetic.

"I'm glad you didn't die." I said. "I don't know what I would have done if my angel never showed up. I mean I got Billie now, but that's only for a few years and then she'll look as much of an adult as you and me."

We were silent for a moment then I thought of something.

"Please tell me that you haven't got to go on another life threatening mission!" I exclaimed with a sense that I was standing on the edge of the abyss.

"No." Tibbi replied. "It's my decision whether I choose to go or not."

"Good." I replied. "Because I can't loose you now Tiberius. Before you came back to me it was different, you were just a possible figment of my drug addled imagination, but now I know you're real…"

"We are together always from now on my Prue." Tibbi said, tapping my hand. "As long as you will have me."

"Oh I'll have you alright." I said, trying for humour. "Every way imaginable and then some."

"What an education." Tibbi replied. "I can't wait."

I smiled at him and then felt a little relief that I'd reached the restaurant, I was certain our convo wouldn't be so intense now. I pulled up under the _porte_-_cochère__ where the valets were waiting. I got out and handed the keys over and took the ticket before taking the arm that Tibbi offered me._

"The queue is big." Tibbi whispered.

"They'll make way for Prue Pearson." I assured him and strode right up to the front, Tibbi at my side.

"There's a line." The bouncer said unenthusiastically.

"Get Hallman on the phone. Tell him it's Prue Pearson and she wants to use her family's table." I stated.

The bouncer glared at me.

"Or would you prefer me to call him myself?" I asked as I held up my cell in a threatening manner.

"I'll call." The bouncer said grudgingly and pressed a button on the side of his headset.

He had a quick conversation with someone on the other end of the line then nodded. He gestured for us to pass through the door and we did to a chorus of muttered annoyance. I didn't care, it was a perk of being a member of a prominent family.

Just inside the door was a little foyer area with an archway leading to the dining area a bar off to the right. There was also a door with a 'Staff Only' sign on it. This opened as we entered and Hallman stepped out. He looked as if he was about to lay down the law big time on someone pretending to be me judging by how his expression went from grim to pleasantly surprised to enthusiastic, which was how I always remembered him.

"Prue darling!" He announced as he stepped up to me and kissed either cheek. "Come on in and wait at the bar." He added as he ushered Tibbi and me into the bar and motioned to the barkeep, who handed us a glass of champagne each.

"Thanks." I said, toasting Hallman and taking just a sip because I was driving.

"Now tell me about this charming young man." Hallman said as he gave Tibbi an appreciative look with a hint of predator.

"This is my fiancé Tibbi." I stated, making sure Hallman got the message that he was off limits because we might be promiscuous but we had our rules.

"Fiancé?" Hallman asked in shock. "I didn't know you were engaged."

"It's only just happened." I stated. "Tiberius asked me and I said yes."

"Then let me be the first to say congratulations." Hallman said, giving me a squeeze. "So they finally managed to tame you." He added with a chuckle.

"They haven't tamed me." I said defiantly. "I just found a man who can keep up with me."

"Good for you." Hallman said, just managing sincerity. "He's a handsome devil, I'll give you that." He said as if Tibbi couldn't hear us. "When you grow bored with him, be sure to send him my way."

"I won't grow bored of Tibbi." I stated and gave him a smile to show that I hadn't excluded him from this convo before turning back to Hallman. "And even if I did it would be pointless sending him your way because he's not the slightest bit gay."

"Shame." Hallman said with a pout as he gave Tibbi another once-over with an air of grief.

"Yeah." I agreed out of courtesy. "But I know a couple of guys who are just your type."

"Then I have one word for you sweetheart, introductions."

"I'll set something up." I promised as one of Hallman's assistants stepped up and whispered in his ear.

"You're table is ready." He said with a smile. "It was nice seeing you again Prue, it's been too long."

"It has." I agreed.

"And it was nice meeting you Tibbi, even if you are the strong silent type." He added as he winked at Tibbi.

"It's an honour to meet a friend of Prue's." Tibbi said with a solemn nod.

"And manners too." Hallman remarked with a shake of his head, then walked off.

"Hi, I'm Abby." The assistant said. "And I'm your server for this evening, if you'd just like to follow me to your table."

Abby led us to my family's table, and it literally was my family's table. Ingrid had donated it when she sold her mother's house. It was to pay off the inheritance tax, which was nearly as much as that old heap was worth. It was too much of a fixer upper to make money renting it out, it was much better to sell it. The furniture was then sold off or donated to collections, just like this one. Ingrid donated it to her good friend Eric Hallman when he was first opening his restaurant. It meant a nice centrepiece of antique furniture to add style to his place, and a free table whenever we wanted. That's how I got to the front of the queue and always had a table when I came here.

I explained all this to Tibbi as we poured over the menu.

We ordered our food and then had a half hour wait because they cooked everything fresh when you ordered. There was no part-cooked nonsense here. I don't really remember much about that conversation, I was too busy watching Tibbi as he spoke about some film he'd seen set in a restaurant. That was the closest he'd ever been to fine dining before.

When the meal came we ate kind of quickly, I think it was because I was pacing myself with Tibbi and he sure could put that food away. I'd have to watch this didn't become a habit when I was eating with him because his metabolism was completely different to mine. For dessert we shared a slice of cheesecake and when the bill came, I put it all on my card.

When we were back in the car I wasn't sure what to do next.

"Would you like to go dancing?" I asked.

"I'd like to dance with you alone." He said and brushed my cheek softly with his hand.

I thought for a moment and then smiled.

"How about a barn dance?" I asked.

"Excuse me?"

"You'll see." I said as I pulled into traffic and headed for home.

Once we got back to the Stables, I walked through the house collecting the things I'd need and handed them to Tibbi to put in the box he was carrying. Then I got the halogen lantern from the kitchen cupboard and led Tibbi back out into the rain and across the yard to the barn.

It was a little chilly in the barn but soon I wouldn't feel it. I turned on the big lights and pointed for Tibbi to put the box on an old milking stool. He did and I went rummaging in the box and took out a string of fairy lights and the staple gun and hitched them up on one of the lower cross beams. They were battery operated and I turned them on and they glowed. I fitted up a couple more strings while Tibbi set up the music player on the workbench Tony used when he was making stuff.

There was an old pole with a hook and I used it to hook the lantern up near the ceiling on another hook that was meant for this purpose before people knew about electricity. When I turned out the big lights the barn was filled with an intimate glow. Then soft music started to fill the space and Tibbi stood up. He walked over to me and then bowed from the waist before straightening back up.

"Miss Prudence, I would be honoured if you would permit me to dance with you." He said, holding out his hand.

"The honour would be mine Mr Tiberius." I said as I took his hand and allowed him to twirl me into position.

I'd had a lot of classical dance training before the cheerleading so I had no problems with letting Tibbi lead. He was a good dancer anyway and although the steps were practiced and well polished, there was a sensuous fluidity to his movement that made it seem like it was something as natural as breathing. I would have loved to show him off, but then I liked how intimate this was.

I moved closer to him, our lead hands between us, as I leant my head on his shoulder and we swayed in something closer to a slow dance. The heat of his body was intense and he smelled amazing, even to my dull human nose. I was about to kiss his jaw when the song changed to something with a tango beat.

Tibbi grinned and he spun me out before pulling me back to him, but in a way that allowed more movement and he led me around that little area of barn in the dance of passion. A tango is a hot sexy dance anyway, but Tibbi made it something else, especially with every dip and twirl. Once the dance was ended I didn't care what the next song was, I just pulled him to me and kissed him and didn't stop until we were lying in a pile of hay and we were pulling at each other's clothes. But this was probably moving a little fast for him.

I wasn't sure how adventurous he was so I pulled away enough to whisper, "Let's go back to the house."

Tibbi nodded and he was on his feet and pulling me up too. I twined my fingers through his and we dashed across the yard together. We ducked back into the house and I led him back up to my room where the bed was neatly made. It didn't stay neat for long.

When I woke up my head was on Tibbi's chest and his warm arms were around me. I couldn't remember the last time I'd woken up and felt at peace with the world. There was always something on my mind that made me pissed, but this morning it was bliss. I just lay there a long while because if I moved I was likely to bring the horrors of the real world crashing in around me. So I just lay there in the warmth and breathing in Tibbi's homey scent.

Then Tibbi's breathing changed slightly and his hand moved softly over my shoulder. He ran it through my hair and I felt him move slightly, to crane his head and look down at me. Then he kissed the top of my head. I turned my face up to kiss his lips and I felt him smile against me.

"You are real and still here." He whispered, hugging me close.

"It's my house I should be saying that to you." I remarked as I traced a pattern on the skin of his chest. "So the last two days really did happen." I mused.

"Yes." Tibbi said as he took my doodling hand and brought it up to put against his cheek before he kissed it. "And today is real too."

"So very real." I said and I sat up so I could look down into his eyes. "Shall we elevate it into the realm of fantasy?"

He looked at me in wonder as he placed his hands to my cheeks, and then I lowered my head to kiss him as I sat across him. His hand moved up the back of my thighs and traced over the curve of my butt before he brought them to rest on my lower back. That wonderful radiation of heat really stirred things and soon I was encouraging him into a little pre-breakfast pleasure. Not that he needed much encouragement.

Afterwards I introduced him to the joys of water preservation before we got dressed and headed downstairs for breakfast.

"I was thinking of going swimming today." I told Tibbi as we ate breakfast. "Do you want to come?"

"I like swimming." Tibbi said with a smile. "Will it be at Tregarran?"

"Yeah." I replied. "Why pay to use a public pool when I can use the neighbour's pool for free?"

Tibbi nodded and then he frowned before saying, "Although there might be a problem. I haven't got a bathing costume."

"Just wear the shorts you got in the bag." I said with a shrug and then I smiled as I thought of what he might have been hinting at. "And although I got no objections to skinny dipping normally, I wouldn't like to do it in Billie's house because it's disrespectful."

"I understand." Tibbi said. "I have never done that."

"You haven't?" I asked in shock, but then he'd led a sheltered life.

Tibbi shook his head.

"Well if we get a warm day I'll take you out to one of the lakes, find a private little spot and see where it leads." I said with a wink. "But today we're gonna wear costumes. So you wanna head over after we finish eating?"

Tibbi nodded.

We finished breakfast and did the dishes before getting our stuff together. We went in the car because it was hammering down and although we were going swimming there was no point getting cold and wet beforehand, it just spoiled the experience.

I enjoyed swimming anyway, but there was something even better swimming with Tibbi. Maybe it was his pure enjoyment of the activity, one that I loved too. It was a hobby we could share and I had a wonderful five minuets imagining the types of places we could go swimming. Some exotic lagoon on a private island where we could pretend we were the only two people on earth. That was the best little daydream and I wondered if I could buy an island like that for three million. I'd live there forever if I could.

Then I seemed to realise that Tibbi had gone underwater and he hadn't resurfaced for at least five minuets. I began to feel panicked as I spotted him on the bottom of the deep end. I took a deep breath and turned over, forcing myself down into the depth until I reached Tibbi. He didn't seem distressed, he looked like he was meditating and then he grabbed me and kissed me, but I was out of breath and I pulled away from him and kicked myself quickly to the surface gasping for breath.

Tibbi surfaced beside me, and his breathing was normal, not even a hint of having starved himself of oxygen.

"Idiot." I growled when I realised he was ok, I mean Liza had told me that the half vamps can hold their breath for a long time. "I should have remembered."

"Prue?" Tibbi asked in concern as he trod water beside me.

"I thought there was something wrong with you. That you were drowning or something." I said, then swam to the side so I could stop treading water.

"I should have thought." Tibbi said, resting on the side of the pool next to me. "I keep forgetting how different our physiologies are. It is relaxing to be submersed in water and let your mind unravel from you. Fraya calls it deep water meditation and I should have told you what I was doing, but you seemed lost in your own thoughts."

"So you thought you'd get lost in yours?" I demanded.

Tibbi looked at me for a moment and then he placed his arm around me and leant his cheek against mine in a half hug.

"I'm sorry I scared you." He said sincerely. "I will warn you in future if I plan to do it again."

"Make sure you do." I said, and then turned to glance at him sideways. "And FYI, I can't breathe underwater so kissing me like that probably wasn't the brightest idea."

"I can't breathe underwater." Tibbi replied.

"Hold my breath all that long then." I snapped my reply.

"I'm very sorry." He said gravely.

I sighed and put my hand to his cheek.

"Let's just forget about it shall we?" I suggested. "Let's do something we can both manage."

"What's that?" He asked with a pleasant smile, obviously forgetting my rule about Billie's house.

"We can dive. It's been years since I've done anything so athletic, but I'm sure my body can remember it."

"You were quite athletic yesterday." He said with a smile. "And last night, and then again this morning."

I had to laugh at that. It was the way he said it, so casual like, but his awe was clear, and there just a touch of boasting in there too. But then what guy didn't like to brag? Even in a non-direct way like that. I kissed his forehead then got out of the pool and made my way to the width side of the deep end.

There wasn't a board, the vamps didn't need one, so I had to dive right off the side. It meant it wouldn't be so impressive, but if I could get the right amount of height I could probably get in one little role. But not on the first go, I needed to get a feel for it first.

I took a step back from the edge, then stepped forward and pushed myself into the dive. There really wasn't much height in that one, but I did glide seamlessly into the water and I felt that small rush of relief as I surfaced and swam back to the side.

"Very good." Tibbi said. "Now it is my turn."

I nodded and watched him get out. The water washed over his skin, before becoming little trails and then, finally, drops. He looked so hot as he walked effortlessly around to the deep end that I had to remind myself that this was Billie's house or I really wouldn't be wasting time on a diving display. I'd be putting my athletic prowess to good use again.

Tibbi dived and I felt my mouth fall open he was that impressive. He glided up into the air and then turned a summersault before straightening and slipping beneath the surface like a dark kingfisher. I watched him swim the entire length of the pool before he surfaced. And then he swam back to me.

"That was awesome!" I exclaimed. "I wish I had that power!"

"You would be much more impressive than me if there was a proper board." He stated.

"How do you figure that?" I asked.

"Because you are clearly much more skilled than I. I merely have the advantage of biology from a standing start, but with more elevation you can better utilise your skill."

"Good answer." I said with a smile. "I think I'll put a little power behind it this time."

I got out of the pool and made my way to the deep end, but I stepped in a damp patch with my weight on my left leg and it went from under me and twisted to the side. I grunted but tried to hold back on the scream as the fiery pain of hot needles pricked behind my kneecap and spread outward up my thigh and down my calf before it became a dull throbbing.

"What's wrong?" Tibbi asked and he was suddenly beside me, supporting my weight with my arm over his shoulders.

"My goddamn knee." I growled as I lifted my foot from the floor so I didn't put any weight on it. "Can you help me to one of the loungers?" I asked.

Tibbi nodded and I was ready to hobble along beside him, but he lifted me up and carried me over to the nearest lounger and put me down on it. I moved a little until I was in a better position to view my knee. It was already starting to swell.

"I need to get some ice on that." I said. "Or it'll be the size of a bowling ball by morning."

"Where can I get ice?" Tibbi asked.

"Try the juice bar." I said, nodding toward the rec room.

"Ok." Tibbi was a flash going into the rec room but came back a second later empty handed. "There's none there."

"Oh yeah, I turned it off cause there was only me here." I replied. "You'll have to go get some from the fridge down in the kitchen." I stated. "And could you pass me my robe, I'm starting to get cold."

Tibbi picked up my robe from where I'd left it draped on one of the other chairs and he surprised me by draping it around his shoulders as he came back to me. As he draped it over my shoulders and I put my arms through the sleeves I realised why. He'd warmed it up for me and I smiled at him and he gave a smile back before he pulled his robe around him and disappeared back through the rec room door.

I moved enough to pull the robe around me properly and tied up the belt. Then I leant back and tried to ignore the pain.

"I thought you would be here." I thought I heard Liza say, and I opened my eyes to find that she really was in the room, walking toward me, trailed by Mal and Alec.

"I thought you were at that conference thing." I said with a frown.

"We were." Liza said as she pulled up one of the folding chairs to the side of my lounger. "But we have come to get you."

"Why?" I asked suspiciously when I noticed how excited she was.

"Because you'll miss the wedding!" She said with a grin.

"What wedding?" I asked, completely lost.

"Grace and Tony are getting married the day after tomorrow. We must leave as soon as possible if we wish to make it in time for the hen night." Liza said, still with that manic edge.

"When was this decided?" I asked.

"Last night." Liza stated. "An opening came up and it is the best way for them to get married in secret. Can you imagine the press coverage if they knew Grace Pearson was marrying her Brody?"

"Ok, I get the rush." I said. "But you could have dropped me a line deputy, I would have been packed and ready."

"We couldn't risk using the normal mode of communication." Liza said covertly.

"Ok. Well I'm not going anywhere until Tibbi gets here with the ice pack, I pulled my knee good this time." I stated firmly.

"Oh dear." Liza said as she started probing it with gentle fingers. "I'm no expert but I think you may have damaged a tendon, you must have Grandpa Carlisle look at it when we reach Wyoming."

"Will do." I said, because Carlisle is the best doctor I know. "So this wedding invite, I got a plus one right?"

"There's no reason you should not be allowed one." Liza stated. "Did you have anyone in mind?"

"Tibbi of course." I said.

Liza nodded her head, then frowned, then looked at me with wide eyes that were the beige side of hazel right then. She smiled at me warmly and hugged me tight.

"Congratulations sister, I hope you find every happiness with him." She whispered into my ear.

"Me too Liza." I said, tapping her on the back before she pulled away.

"Where is he?" She asked looking around expectantly.

"Getting ice." I said, not making a big deal out of having to repeat myself because Liza had the habit of missing things when she was excited about something else.

There was a sound like ice cubes hitting tile floor and we all turned just in time to see Tibbi fly through the air with his teeth bared. He was aiming straight for Alec and his expression was murderous.

* * *

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**Gemma x**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Twilight is the property of Stephenie Meyer**

**This chapter is dedicated to Noble, Fadewind, M-Bianca94, Alphabloodwolf, Patricia, Alexsandra, Lsb123 and BellaNessieCullen**

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**Tibbi**

I have no idea why I reacted so violently toward my father, but for a while afterwards I tried to piece it together in my mind…

To begin with my emotions were heightened by new experiences I had never imagined. I had come to this place expecting a quiet reunion with my eldest sister Lilly, but instead I was swept up in what seemed a fairy tale. For there was my Venus rising from that shell shaped bathtub and I thought for a moment that I was witnessing the goddess herself. Then she spoke to me and she was delightfully human and went by the name of Prue. She already knew my name was Tibbi and it didn't take long to work out that Lilly had set up this meeting without informing us. I would have been here sooner if I'd known the dusty scarecrow of a girl who'd somehow shone like a diamond was here.

She was happy and sensual and completely temperamental, moving from one emotion to the next with such frequency it was almost dizzying. And it was beautiful, just as she was beautiful in a way that was hard to define because I had seen much beauty in my life that it had become almost mundane. Prue was beauty as far as I was concerned and she brought such reassurance behind it. Even in her moments of anger and temper I wanted to be near her.

Even before she had shown me what sex could really be. Not that moment of pleasure that quickly subsided into shame and self-loathing. What she showed me was…was love making just as she had declared it. It was making love with the rush of pleasure and the delightful warmth and the contentment that followed as she held me to her bosom and allowed me to sleep. I hadn't meant to sleep, I thought it was a forbidden thing, but Prue said it was all part of the enjoyment.

There were all these new awakenings and then Prue wished to go swimming, but at Tregarran. It was not her house and she wished to behave when we used it. I could not object for we'd have our pleasure once more at her home called the Stables. We were just playing about, but then Prue hurt her knee.

I was worried and not completely sure what I should do as I run her errand to fetch ice from the kitchen. I was so worried she was hurt beyond repair. What if I had to take her to the hospital? I couldn't drive and I found it hard to talk to humans, especially ones in authority. But I would do it for Prue.

As I came back to the room with the pool I could hear Prue talking to someone, a girl with a light melodious voice speaking of some wedding. Prue wished for me to accompany her and that made me happy, but what if her knee was not healed? And she needed the ice that I had to be careful how I carried because the heat of my hands might melt it.

Then I entered the room and there was my father, standing too close to the woman I love and discussing weddings and fun while he still neglected us children. I saw red and leapt at him without thought.

I didn't care that he was stronger than me, or that he was a better fighter, or that he could use his power on me, thus rendering me senseless and unable to defend myself. I wanted to hurt him for all the trouble he had caused us, his children, by intrusting our safety to two incompetent idiots who gave us up to save their own necks.

I was doing the ridiculous thing of trying to strangle him when he didn't need to breathe. And then I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Tibbi stop it." Prue's voice came through the mist of my anger. "If you kill him you won't get your answers."

And what she said was right, but I found it hard to stop.

Then I felt her arms about me as she hugged me from behind. She had to bend to do that; she had to bend her knees, her bad knee. I turned to her in concern and saw the flash of pain that crossed her face that she quickly tried to hide again.

"Let's get you ice." I said and scooped her up and ran her down to the kitchen where I placed her on the table.

I caught ice from the dispenser into a tea towel and pressed it against Prue's swollen left knee.

"Are you ok?" She asked me, stroking my cheek with her hand.

"You are the one who's injured." I said, not looking up.

"Tibbi, you just tried to kill your father. No matter how pissed I was with Ingrid I never went that far. Do you want to talk about it?"

"I don't know why I did it." I said. "But he doesn't look as if he suffers."

"He suffers more than you know." The girl said from the door and she walked over to Prue and me. "You're doing it all wrong." She said and pushed me out of the way with considerable ease for one so much smaller than me. "I think you are in possession of only half the facts Tibbi."

"Who are you?" I asked.

"This is my little deputy, Liza." Prue stated.

"You're the girl my father abandoned us for?" I asked, looking her over and seeing nothing impressive, she was too small for my tastes.

"Unfortunately yes." She said, looking up at me with a guarded look with eyes that were hazel. "I did not ask him to, and I have chastised him for taking such a route, but no matter what I say it does not add to the great guilt he feels for causing the situation. He is tortured by his guilt, which is right, but he is also tortured by the despair of being unable to explain to you children his unbalanced state of mind during that time."

"What's stopping him?" I demanded.

"Jane." Liza replied with.

"Jane?" I asked in disbelief.

"Yes." She stated, and there was nothing about her expression or tone that indicated she was lying. "She forbade him from coming into contact with you children. I have no idea if you are aware, but you were also banned from contacting him. Perhaps you were not made aware of this fact for you hadn't expressed a wish to see him, but Lilly had, if only to find answers for you children. Jane told her that she was not to enter California. If she did Catalina would know and stop her."

"This is not true." I said angrily. "Why would Jane do that?"

"Jane usually has her reasons, and usually she is right." Liza said with a shrug. "But I think she is off the mark on this one."

"Agreed." I said reluctantly.

I could feel her eyes on me, but I didn't look at her again.

"Prue, I will go and fetch the first aid kit. I will strap up your knee for travel and then I will pack your bag at the Stables under your instruction." Liza stated.

"Thanks Liza." Prue said with a smile and she reached out and stroked her cheek. "And a few pain killers wouldn't go amiss."

"I'll see to it my captain." Liza replied with a firm salute and they both laughed before Liza took my hand and placed it on the icepack. "Hold it there I shan't be long."

She looked at me until I responded with a nod, then she tapped my arm as if I'd done good, before she disappeared through a different door to the one we'd entered.

"Do you think you could tone down the hostility?" Prue asked. "Liza is one my oldest friends, I'd even go so far as to say she's my best friend, so she's a reality in my life. Seriously, she didn't do anything to ask for Alec's attention so stop treating her like she's something you found on the bottom of your shoe. My deputy deserves better than that."

"It's too overwhelming." I said sadly.

"I can understand that. But you're starting off determined to hate Liza, and you really shouldn't hate her. She's a good person and if you can't get on with her…" Prue trailed off and I looked up at her with question. "I've known Liza a lot longer than I've known you." Her Arctic-blue eyes bore into mine and she was serious.

I realised I had to make an effort here or I risked losing Prue having only just found her. I didn't have long to dally because Liza entered carrying a big box that she placed beside Prue she pulled a stool over to the table. She stood on it to better reach Prue.

"What may I do to help you Miss Liza?" I said politely.

"Would you be so kind as to place that towel in the sink and bring me a dry one?" She said with a smile.

"Yes." I replied, and did as she asked.

In the meanwhile she went to fetch water and gave Prue some tablets to take.

"I could ease the pain quicker than those pills." I stated.

"By reversing your power?" Liza asked.

"Yes." I replied, it was more complicated than that, but there wasn't time to go into the full details.

"Please, do it." Prue said. "I can't believe I didn't think of that."

"I should have offered sooner." I whispered as I placed my fingers to her temple and began to shroud her mind in mist.

"That's good." Prue murmured. "I can't feel a thing now. This is better than any drug I've ever tried."

"You should forget about the drugs." Liza said firmly as she began to wrap a bandage about Prue's knee. "They were no good for you then and are no good for you now."

"Yes. Drugs are bad for you." I found myself agreeing with Liza. "They do terrible stuff to your mind. Believe me, I know."

"Not more than me." Prue countered. "I've actually taken the stuff. I know the effects, good and bad. You two squares can't lecture me."

"Prue." Liza said reproachfully. "We do not mean to lecture, we merely worry after you. In pain you may return to your bad habits."

"Ain't never gonna happen again my deputy." Prue said. "I got too much to live for to risk myself like that again. Even without Tibbi there was too much in my life, with Tibbi now, I have to fight for life or it's all a waste."

"I'm glad you find something fulfilling now. It would be a great sadness should we lose you again." Liza stated as she secured the ends of the bandage with surgical tape. "All done." She added. "Now to get back to the Stables. I propose that I drive your car there and Mal can drive the hire car. We will use it to get back to the airport where we will fly by chartered jet to Wyoming. We should arrive there in due time for Grace and Tony's wedding."

"Sounds like a good plan." Prue said. "Will I need my passport?"

"No. It is all private airstrips owned by the Coalition." Liza explained. "All you're required to bring is yourself, and any clothes you think you might need of course."

"Yeah." Prue said.

Liza turned to me and gave me a thoughtful look.

"I think perhaps you would rather cradle Prue in the passenger seat of her car than to travel in the hire car with Alec just yet." She observed.

"Yes." I stated. "The less I have to be around him the better."

"You will do better to put aside any animosity if you wish to accompany us to the wedding. At least for the duration of the flight." Liza advised.

"I will take the time on our journey to the Stables and the time it takes to pack to rearrange my thoughts. I won't attack him again, but I can't promise to talk to him." I stated.

"It's a start." Liza said with a smile as she tapped my arm. "I will go and let Mal know what we are doing and I will meet you in the garage."

"See you in five." Prue said with a smile.

Liza smiled in return and then left.

"Shall I carry you or can you walk?" I asked.

"I think I'm gonna recline here for a minuet while you go pull your clothes on and then I'll see if I can walk or not." Prue stated.

"My clothes?" I asked with a frown and then looked down.

I was wearing the shorts I'd used for swimming.

"Not that I got any objections, I like the shirtless look on you, but if I'm sitting in your lap over to the Stables then you should dress. If the cops pull us over, not that I think they will, but it will give them more cause to write us a ticket or haul our asses in like a couple of prom night drunks if you're half naked."

"Then I will go to retrieve my shirt." I stated. "Then we will go to the garage?"

"Yeah." Prue said with a nod. "So go already, this table is making my butt numb."

"Perhaps you'd like me to warm it for you?" I asked with a grin.

"Maybe later." She replied, beckoning me to her and she kissed me. "Now be quick, Liza hates to be kept waiting."

"I will be swift." I promised, and then I moved with great speed up the steps that led through the library because they brought me closer to the pool house.

I went and recovered my t-shirt and pulled it on as I walked through the library. Then I heard voices coming from the room beyond.

"I know he is your son Alec, but you gave up any right to order him to your presence when you left him to fend for himself." Liza was saying.

"I left him with people I could trust." Father countered.

"Trust and competence are two different things." Liza stated.

"To be honest I had no idea there were such problems in the 'promised land'." Father said with sarcasm thick on the latter. "Is this not meant to be some form of haven? I had no idea there were such problems. I thought they would be safe in this land policed by my sister."

"Perhaps you should have told Jane you were coming." Another voice replied, it must have been the brown haired male who'd come with father and Liza. "She would have provided a guard for them. One that would have protected them."

"There was no time to inform her while we were on the run." Father replied.

"Well as soon as you landed then." The other man snapped. "You should have seen them safe before you went after Liza. Or not gone after her at all."

"I was not thinking at the time." Father said in a low voice.

"Clearly." Liza returned scathingly.

I heard Father sigh.

"Can you not see why Tibbi does not wish to speak with you at present and how pressurising him will exacerbate matters?" Liza asked in reasoning tones. "You have to give him time and space to adjust to your presence once more or you may alienate him for good."

"I want to atone for my crime, but I cannot do so if he avoids me." Father complained.

"You will do more damage if you do not wait until he comes to you." Liza replied. "Give him time and do not smother him. Go on with Mal to the stables and we will meet you soon."

"Come on but, there's no point pushing the matter." The other man, the one who must be Mal, said. "He'll come to you when he's ready."

I heard Father sigh again.

"Then I will follow your advice." He said with resignation. "Take me to the Stables."

I realised that Liza would come this way to get to the garage and so I moved quickly down to the kitchen where Prue was still sat upon the counter.

"What took you so long?" Prue asked when I entered. "I thought you'd all left without me."

"Sorry." I replied as I took her into my arms without thinking. "I…" I trailed off as I carried her out to the garage.

"Hey kid, what's wrong?" She asked with concern.

"I will tell you when we're alone." I whispered.

"But we are alone." She stated.

"Ears can hear." I said as I entered the garage to find that Liza was already there.

"I have your keys." Liza said brightly as she unlocked the door of the car and opened the passenger door.

I manoeuvred Prue in my arms so that I could sit in the car and then I settled her in my lap in a way she could keep her leg straight but we didn't hinder Liza when driving. I held her close to me as Liza drove us to the Stables. Prue had her hand placed over mine and she was trying to comfort me and question me at the same time. I hoped she wouldn't do so in front of Liza, how could I explain that I never wanted to lay eyes on my father again, no matter how repentant he felt?

The journey was quick and I was relieved that father wasn't at the Stables when we arrived. Perhaps Mal was keeping him away, it seemed like something Liza would suggest to keep the peace for a little longer. I'd misjudged her, she wanted to make people comfortable and I'd been rude.

As I got out of the car with Prue in my arms I made a promise to myself that I would make a full apology to Liza and offer some form of compensation for my rude behaviour.

Now that we were on her territory Prue made it clear that she would walk. I placed her on the floor and she tested her weight on her leg before she moved with a limp toward her front door. She unlocked the door and stepped inside, I followed closely in case she fell but Liza put a hand on my wrist and when I looked down at her she shook her head, I should avoid hovering, Prue would find it annoying.

I paid heed to Liza's advice and gave Prue her space. It was a hard thing to do, I wanted to protect her, but Prue could look after herself. I had to accept that. I didn't like people to fuss around me. Prue was obviously the same.

"Tibbi, why don't you go grab your stuff while Liza and me grabs mine." Prue suggested.

"Yes." I agreed and began up the stairs to Prue's room where all the belongings I had to hand were located.

I decided to dress into clothes fit for travelling, I had more belongings in Wyoming and if I left some things here it meant that I intended on returning. It meant I had to return for more than just Prue. She would not like me to come here just for her. She would maybe find it creepy after only knowing each other for a few days. I didn't want to appear that way, I am not my father, but I wanted to get to know Prue better, and that would mean moving here.

Olympic Pines seemed a nice place; I could get a job, a place of my own. Aunt Jane would aid me, and if not Lilly surely would. She worked for a shop, I wouldn't like to work in a shop, I'd prefer something outdoors in the air. Even in rain soaked Washington.

I took my clothes into the guest room to allow Prue and Liza room to gather Prue's belongings. I stripped off my clothes still damp from the pool and pulled on my dry clothes. It was jeans and t-shirt, comfortable for travelling, not that I had much more than that with me. I'd planned on a short trip visiting with my sister, nothing fancy. Now I was invited to the wedding of the sister of a woman I never thought I'd see again. I had risked a lot stopping to save her from the mist in her mind, but she also saved me. If I hadn't had her image in my mind I would not have survived that time in captivity, how could I get that across? Was it love that she stayed in my mind after that one little encounter? Or was it attraction, and now we could let love grow? I was confused. I had to speak to Lilly. She always knew more about these things than I did.

When I was dressed I made my way downstairs to wait for Prue and Liza, I hoped I wouldn't run into father. I stood in the hallway feeling like a spare part, I wasn't needed for the time being and I felt like little brother Tibbi again. The youngest of so many, always following behind, never experiencing anything for myself without someone telling me about their experience of it first. This was a new experience that I was certain none of my siblings had experienced. None of them had my power so they couldn't begin to know what I had experienced with Prue. Prue brought me new experiences in more ways then one.

I was beginning to wonder what was taking Prue and Liza so long when there was a knock on the front door before it was opened. Mal stepped inside and then paused when he saw me there.

"Hey, Tibbi right?" He said.

I nodded.

"Ok." Mal said and frowned for a moment, perhaps he thought I was rude. "Are the girls ready? Because Alec is tearing his hair out here. I've actually got him in a bubble out there, and I don't know how long I can hold him."

"A bubble?" I asked.

"Yeah. But it's going to burst soon. Unless you want to talk to him?" Mal said in a hopeful way.

"No." I said.

"Then tell the girls to hurry." Mal said, giving me a stern look before he let the door close.

Although I didn't want to see that lousy father of mine, I wanted to know what Mal had meant by bubble. I opened the door and stepped outside. Father was standing away from Mal looking sulky. Then he saw me and came toward me, but he hit something and stopped dead in the air. He growled and tried to launch himself at Mal, but that didn't happen. Again he was stopped and this time he was held in midair.

"I can do this all day Alec." Mal said in a bored voice. "This is just treading water for me. Now settle down or I'll make the space even smaller."

"You can't keep me from my son." Father growled.

"But I can ask that you steer clear." I said firmly. "If only you were this protective before."

"I would have come to you sooner if they'd let me." Father complained.

"I'm not talking of your absence now, but your complete lack of judgement leaving us to fend for ourselves in an unknown land." I stated. "Mal, let him go and see to Liza."

"Wait a minuet but." Mal said, shooting me a worried look. "What are you planning exactly?"

"That is between me and my…father." I managed to force that last word out between my teeth.

"You're not going to kill him." Mal said firmly. "You'll get Liza in trouble and then I'll have to kill you."

The intensity of Mal's words were such that I didn't doubt that he would.

"I will not kill him." I said. "But I should talk to him before we're all stuck on a plane together."

"Are you sure but?" Mal asked.

"Yes." I said, keeping my eyes firmly on the one who is my father.

"Ok." Mal said and moved his hands as if he was dropping something to the floor and father did descend, although he didn't drop. "I'll go shift them along, it's most likely Liza in an organising buzz." He added in an overly bright way.

Mal went into the house as father rose to his feet and turned to me.

"I don't forgive you for what you did." I stated before he could say anything. "At least not yet, too much has passed between us."

Father looked at me for a long moment.

"That's not to say that reconciliation in the future is out of the question, but for now I cannot forgive." I stated.

"Then why talk to me?" Father asked with a frown.

"Because I don't want an atmosphere on the plane." I said firmly. "For the sake of Prue and her friends I want to travel to this wedding in a cloud of friendship. Will you allow this?"

"I want to make up for every wrong I have done you my son." Father said sincerely.

I went to respond, then something occurred to me.

"Which son am I?" I asked.

Father regarded me for a long moment, then blinked before answering.

"You are Tiberius of course, although the others like to call you Tibbi." He replied.

"Do you really remember my name, or has Liza and Mal informed you of it?" I demanded.

"It is with sentiment that I remember the names of my children, but I know it's best not to stress this point for you could argue that I am a vampire with infallible memory and therefore it is not some great indication of affection that I remember. Although I assure you Tibbi, I hold you all dearly in my heart, even if I was selfish for a time."

"Yes, you were selfish." I replied.

"I don't deny that. I was reckless too. I thought Sarrin and Even were trustworthy and capable, I was wrong. I was wrong in every action I took upon my arrival here, I committed so many wrongs, but worst of all was leaving my children to their fate. I know no amount of remorse will truly right the wrong I caused you, but I am remorseful."

"I know." I replied, for it was hard to deny that fact. "But as you said, it does not make up for how you abandoned us."

Father nodded and looked away in shame.

"But it's a start." I stated. "You are changed, I can tell. You want us now, before we were a duty you felt you had to live up to. Now you truly wish to protect us. Where has this paternal instinct come from?"

"As soon as I knew you were in danger I felt that thing that had been missing in me. That piece of my heart where a man holds his children. It was hard to comprehend that you were all truly my children, even after several years of knowing this fact. My mind was so stripped by those carrion Fire Twins that the memory of those women and the children they bore seemed nothing more than fantasy. It was hard to connect those images to the adults brought before me. But I was told you were my children and I felt the obligation to protect, but I never felt it as a desperate urge, as if my world would end if you should all perish. I never felt that until you were truly in peril. You needed to be rescued, but Jane forbade me from doing so."

"Why would Jane do such a thing?" I asked, wondering at this defamation of my aunt's reputation.

"I was still a newly discovered criminal element at the time. Her brother yes, but it was clear she was questioning her knowledge of me at the time. Through my own selfish pursuits I managed to make my own twin question my motives and believe that I might possibly harm my own children."

"I have to think about this." I stated.

Father nodded.

"You have allowed me talk. That is the most I hoped for at this time."

The door of the Stables was opened. Prue appeared with Liza and Mal, who was carrying a suitcase that he loaded into the boot of the van sized car. Prue came to my side and looked up at me, before she glanced at father, then back to me. She looked concerned.

"We are good for now." I whispered in her ear. "I can suffer the journey with him."

"You had a heart-to-heart?" She asked.

"More an agreement of truce until I can find it in me for a heart-to-heart." I stated. "We will need time to talk, but there's not enough before we get on the plane. At least this way there won't be an…atmosphere."

"Of course." Prue said and she brushed my cheek lightly for a moment. "So where's your stuff?"

"I brought very little with me." I stated. "I have much better attire in Wyoming so there's no need for me to take anything there with me."

"It also means you can bring more back." Prue observed, not missing a thing.

"Well…Yes." I admitted.

"Good." Prue said with a smile and she kissed me. "Let's get going." She added and took my hand and led me to the car.

We got into the back, Prue leading me to the seats at the very back to give me space from father. It was the best thing for me until I was entirely comfortable in his presence and I was grateful that Prue thought of this. I also added points in father's favour when he made sure to sit as far away from me as the small space allowed. He wasn't crowding me, as he had promised.

Mal was driving while Liza sat beside him. Prue still held my hand and I raised it to my lips briefly as our journey began. She was understanding of my state of mind, after three days she seemed to know me better than anyone, possibly even better than Lilly who was much a mother to me as my sister. She knew me better than anyone, or at least she had, Prue had an instinctual knowledge of me that would surpass that knowledge gained by knowing me a lifetime that Lilly had. It was a strange theory indeed and I wasn't sure I should humour the thought.

Prue returned the kiss to my hand and smiled at me.

"When we get to Wyoming, we're gonna have a serious talk kid." She said, her fingers brushing my hair.

"I know bambino." I replied.

Prue raised an eyebrow, but then she grinned and leaned across the distance toward me. Her hand alighted on my cheek and moved to the back of my head before pulling me across that gap to pull my lips to hers. My hands flew up to her cheeks and I fell into that kiss, guided by my sweet temptress. Prue moved me in ways that I'd never considered, and now she was making that thrill build within me.

She pulled away, her hands still on my cheeks, as she smiled at me, her eyes locked on mine as her smile turned to a seductive grin.

"We should leave the kissing 'til we get to Wyoming and we can have a real good time." She all but mouthed.

I found myself nodding in agreement as I pushed away the urge to pull Prue into my lap and forget there was others in this car.

I contented myself with holding Prue's hand as we drove through the rain for an hour. We came to a small airfield, I recognised the plane waiting on the runway, it was Aunt Jane's. I'd seen it, but I hadn't been on it yet, to be honest I had only been on a plane once on the journey from Europe.

If I told the truth I was apprehensive because there had been turbulence on the journey from Europe, and all those hours stuck in a confined space with so many human scents. It wad intolerable and it was a close call over whether I'd beat the urge to feed. I was thankful that Lilly had her wits about her and distracted me with the on flight movie and such. Of course it would be different with Prue being the only human on board.

"To think of all those times the rents went jetting off all over the word and this is the first time I get to go in a private jet." Prue mused with that usual light tone that hid a torrent of hurt and grief she used when talking of her dead parents.

"It certainly beats driving that distance." Liza observed as Mal pulled the rented car into what appeared to be a designated spot.

"And it definitely beats commercial flying." Mal observed. "I flew coach over from Britain, and I spent most of the flight with the seat in front of me almost pressed into my face because I got put in the back seat and had no room to recline myself. Not to mention the limited leg room."

"There's plenty of legroom on that plane." Liza replied, placing her lips close to his for a moment, and then they both giggled and father looked away disgruntled.

"Should we board now?" I asked.

"Yes." Liza said, looking back at us. "We merely need to check in and we will be led to the plane. Should all go to plan we will be touching down in Wyoming within the next three hours."

"Don't say stuff like that before we fly." Prue observed.

"Like what?" Liza asked.

"'Should all go to plan'." Prue stated, doing a good imitation of Liza's tones. "You don't ever say something like that when you're about to fly. It's the kiss of death."

"The kiss of death?" I asked.

"You've seen movies right?" Prue asked and I nodded. "Seen any plane crash ones?"

"They upset me so I never watch them." I stated.

Prue frowned for a moment, then her eyes widened.

"I'm just winding Liza up." She said, tapping my forearm. "Come on, let's go grab the best seats." She added conspiratorial as she pushed at my shoulder because I had to exit before she could.

I took her encouragement as light-hearted as I could, given the situation and reached to open the door. By the time I had climbed out and pulled Prue out behind me, the other three had already exited.

"So we just leave the car here?" Mal asked doubtfully.

"Yes." Father replied. "The company employees will see that it is returned to the hire company. This is all well planned out."

"As it was when the Volturi owned this base." Liza said in a most tranquil voice. "But things change. This is now in the hands of the Coalition. You are no longer trying to affect a Russian accent."

"And you no longer think you love me." Father mumbled under his breath.

Mal narrowed his eyes, but he didn't lower himself to hiss, he knew father was trying for a cheap shot to give him more reason to wallow in self-pity. Was it not the curse of the man who is my father, that when he makes headway with people he says something that angers them to him once more? I could see something like friendship blossoming between father and these two who had great cause to hate him for eternity. He could be their friend, if he could put aside the feelings of injustice that he has no right to feel. Was I forgiving enough of him to advise him on this better course of action?

I shook away these thoughts and went around to the boot of the car in order to retrieve Prue's luggage. I would carry it for her now if she was not carrying it herself. Was that not the right thing? As usual I was uncertain on such customs, but I felt that if I wished to be anything to Prue then I had to aid her at the times she was unable to do something herself, and not interfere when she was more than capable of doing it herself. Mal went to reach for the case too, but he stopped, pulled his hand back and acted as if he had not been about to do it. I realised that this was so there wasn't too much of a show on what I was doing; it was after all the normal state of affairs. I always carried Prue's luggage, it was nothing new to be commented upon. It made it easier to accept Mal, and Liza too, after my initial hostile thoughts I knew they were not bad people, and Prue was right, Liza never asked for father's attention.

Prue walked beside me as we followed the others into the glass and steel building. She wound her arm around mine and entwined our fingers as she walked in a way that suggested she had no injury, although it was apparent when you knew.

"Well this is something right?" She observed. "We've only known each other a few days and already we're jetting off somewhere for the week."

"Yes." I replied. "And I will introduce you to my family."

"Will all of them be there?" Prue asked.

"Most of my siblings are residing in Wyoming until they find cause to settle down elsewhere." I replied.

"Why is the vamp HQ located in Wyoming anyway?" Prue asked.

"Because it is the most central location of all the United States available in the vegetarian lands." Liza replied.

"Why not put it dead bang in the centre?" Prue asked.

"Politics." Liza stated without elaborating for we had entered the building and a woman in a blue uniform was ready to welcome us with a smile.

Prue's suitcase was taken from me to be deposited in the hold while the rest of us were led out to the plane. We had to climb steep steps to reach the plane door. I stopped Prue away from the others and placed my lips to her ear in the hope of shielding as much of this question as I could manage from sensitive ears.

"I am going to carry you to save your knee." I whispered into her ear, cupping my hand about her head in a show of affection, but also to shield my mouth to add more security to someone overhearing. "I will make it look playful."

I pulled back and looked into Prue's eyes as she frowned for a moment and then smiled and pulled me to her. She placed a big kiss to my lips and I realised this was my cue so I scooped her up into my arms.

"We will make the most of this romantic getaway." I announced before striding purposefully toward the stairs.

I was certain the lady who attended us on the ground meant to stop me, but I moved with determination. Besides, father was there distracting her and that gave me a free path up the stairs until I could place Prue on the floor of the plane and she moved toward the back where a couple of seats were located in an almost private alcove from the other seats that appeared arranged ready for a meeting. We ignored these and sat in that cosy little alcove.

"You are more than welcome to join us." Liza said, stopping on the perceivable outside of this little private place.

"We just need a few moments to regroup." Prue said. "It's been quite a wild few days and I need to brief Tibbi on who everyone is on our side and he can clue me into all the vamp customs I need to know. I don't want to accidentally insult someone's mother or something."

"Of course." Liza said with an understanding smile, but I was certain she knew of the real reason we wished for privacy. "Then I will leave you both to brief each other whilst we fly. There will be more than enough time to discuss other matters when we are on the road once more. There is an hour drive between the airstrip and Headquarters."

"So much travelling." Prue said warily. "But I guess it beats an eighteen hour road trip."

"It does indeed." Liza said, and then she went to the cluster of seats and sat next to Mal.

I was about to strike up a conversation when I heard the door slam shut and an attendant ran briefly through the safety instructions. It wasn't as extensive as the one we'd ben given on the commercial plane, but it was still given. I hadn't forgotten the instructions in Italy; they'd stuck in my head. If these instructions were supposed to reassure people that they'd be safe in an emergency then it didn't work on me. I had been fairly looking forward to flying; it had seemed so magnificent when I'd seen aeroplanes gliding majestically over head. I hadn't thought about them crashing until at the start of the flight when the attendants were waving their arms around to show the exits and demonstrating life vests and such. Then I knew there was the possibility of a crash and I'd started to feel panicked. I'd almost forgotten that awful roll of nausea and the sense of foreboding I'd felt. As I watched the attendant perform an abridged version of the safety routine I felt that worry flare once more. With my seatbelt buckled and the plane beginning to move I gripped the armrest and squeezed my eyes shut.

I felt something brush the back of my hand and I managed to pry my right eye open to see that Prue was stroking the back of my hand in comfort. She didn't say anything. That would have drawn the attention of the others. Prue stroked the back of my hand and smiled at me. I felt a lot of the worry I had fade away, and I was able to open my eyes by the time the plane started to straighten out.

A light came on to show that we could remove our seatbelts, I was determined I wouldn't. Prue however was already out of her seat and settling into my lap in order to put her mouth close to my ear to speak.

"Why didn't you say you were a nervous flyer?" She asked.

"I forgot." I replied. "I don't fly regularly enough to know how well I fly."

"How many times have you been on a plane?" She asked.

"The only other time was coming over from Europe." I admitted.

"At least it's a shorter journey this time." Prue said, her fingers softly caressing my cheek. "And I always find that doing something to distract you from flying helps big time."

"Distraction is always good." I replied, concentrating my gaze on Prue's blue eyes and falling into their clear sapphire splendour. "How is your knee?" I asked, moving my hand and placing it carefully upon her swollen joint.

"It's good." She said. "Liza patched it up, I took some anti-inflammatory, you provided me with your own brand of aesthetic."

"Is it still working?" I asked.

"Oh yes." Prue replied. "I don't know what you've done but it's the first time in years I haven't felt anything from my knee."

"What did you do to it?" I asked.

"It's an old cheerleading accident. We were at the end of year friendly against Ridgeborough High, so luckily all the competitions were out of the way for the year. Anyway, we were the reigning champs in the cheerleading finals so we had to show the rabble from Ridgeborough exactly what the Muses could do. We were to finish off with a pyramid and then I'd leap from the top, do a tuck roll in the air and Simon and Gray would catch me and I'd end sitting on their shoulders as the rest of the Muses dissembled the pyramid and formed in around us.

"So I'd just reached the top of the pyramid and was getting ready for my leap. I had all my weight on the balls of my feet ready to launch myself into the air. Then I really don't know what happened, we never did find out who lost their control, but suddenly the pyramid wasn't stable beneath my feet anymore and all my weight was distributed in the wrong places for me to keep my balance on the moving mass of people. I fell forward and I couldn't control it, I was falling. Simon just about managed to catch me, but my foot hit the ground and my knee twisted horribly. I was laid up for a month and had to go easy on it for the rest of the summer to make sure it healed enough to get on with cheerleading when I got back. That was the year Liza joined us and became my deputy, so she took some of the strain off me.

"I was all ready to resent her at first, but like I said, it's hard not to like Liza. She can be a bitch, but she tends to use it for the good of mankind and not for her own selfish gains."

"Those days must have been fun." I observed.

"They had their moments." Prue said with a shrug. "But then the rents were always on my case for being too loose with boys and putting cheerleading before my studies. They just always assumed the worst of me."

"But it was good in school." I stated.

"Well yeah, once I earned my place as queen-bee. Trixie Van Goran saw me as a threat, so my freshman year wasn't so good, but once she went and I got head cheerleader, well things were pretty good. Helped that I could hold my own against the naysayers who thought it was wrong a sophomore should lead. But Coach Tulsa knew what she was doing when she had talent to work with. The last few years have been rather pitiful from what I heard. It's a shame really, that the Muse crown has to be tarnished."

"A big shame." I replied. "But your name is in history."

"Well yeah. Four years I was in a winning team, three of them as captain. Liza followed me with that. I guess whatever it was that just worked when we were there dissipated somewhere."

"Perhaps it was the assurance in the Muse name. The squad had won for at least eight years and so the younger ones that succeeded you were confident in their ability to win. They thought that merely being a member of the squad was enough for a win, without realising that there was much work involved to get to that level."

"Like they thought the win was their right and not a privilege they had to earn?" Prue asked.

"Yes." I replied. "They didn't realise that they would have to put effort in too, and without a powerful focal point such as yourself and Liza adding that special something they should have been working twice as hard."

"But I guess it doesn't matter so much to us." Prue said, stroking my cheek. "I guess you never got to go to school." She said softly, her hand still stroking my cheek.

I shook my head and took her hand, bringing it to my lips for a moment while I sifted through my thoughts for the best way to explain my childhood.

"We taught each other." I stated. "Like other children we excelled in different areas and weren't that good in others. We helped in the areas we were best in."

"What subject were you best at?" Prue asked.

"I was best at the sciences. My understanding of how this world works came easy to me. Especially when we were gifted with the Internet. Although it was only to seek knowledge, we were barred from contact with the outside world. Lilly found a way around it, but really, who in the outside world could we contact?"

"Were you lonely?" Prue asked sympathetically.

"I had many siblings, loneliness was not an issue. But there are certain things one cannot do with one's siblings. In that respect it was lonely, especially when privacy is hard to come by to alleviate it by other means." I said in a guarded manner, unsure if I should mention such things to a lady.

"That's why I'm glad Grace and me had separate rooms." Prue said with the wicked grin she employed when talking about her risqué past and I realised there was no reason to be coy with Prue.

I liked the fact that she had the freedom to explore as she did, it was something I didn't dare dream on the island. I often considered Aro a fool in giving us all the same father. If he'd truly wanted to have a whole host of us living vampires in his control he would have done better to give us different fathers. Allowed us to mate and give him even more vampires without risking human women. He didn't think about the long-term practicalities. I know at least two of my brothers had made use of the food stock to satisfy their needs, but it seemed wrong to me. How could you love something in that way only to kill it later? It was beyond me, something I could never do. I felt guilty enough in killing without that attachment; maybe that's why I never followed that course. To think of them as people…

I felt myself wince.

"What's wrong?" Prue asked, her hands either side of my face now as she looked into my eyes in concern.

"I am a murderer." I whispered.

"Look! You didn't know any better." She said firmly. "It's like eating at your favourite restaurant only to find out their suppliers turned out to be inhumane. You really weren't at fault, it was the ones providing your meals."

"I still knew they were human."

"May I interject?" Liza asked as she took Prue's seat. "You can beat yourself up as much as you like, but the truth is you were told animal blood would not sustain you. You were made to believe that only human blood would do. What other choice did you have when the hunger came calling? When I was younger I felt that call, and I knew that when I did I should go hunt out in the forest, bring down a deer or two and everything would be well. But what would I have done if I had not had that option? Given in to those cravings surely, not to mention the joy I would have taken in concocting ways to lure the person away. I like such challenges."

I gave her a look of concern and she sighed as she patted my forearm.

"You have nothing on Father and he is a good man." She stated, then stood and returned to Mal.

"And there you have it, my little deputy, wise beyond her years." Prue stated.

"What she says is true. But it doesn't cleanse the guilt, or erase their screams from my mind." I murmured.

"No one said it would be easy." Prue observed. "And it will take time, and it's probably hitting you in a fresh wave now you're starting to have more to do with humans, but gotta stop beating yourself up about this. Just try to get past it. I know I've never killed anyone, but I've done enough dodgy stuff in my past that if I dwelled on it I wouldn't be able to function."

"Tibbi. I have a suggestion. If you ar willing to hear me out." Father said carefully standing near the perceived entrance of the little alcove.

"What do you suggest?" I asked.

"Some of those who take on the vegetarian lifestyle now perform a ceremony of absolution. They do so in order to let go of the sins they had no choice but to commit. It's a form of mourning those who were taken." He explained.

"I have no right to mourn their passing." I stated. "I didn't know them and I killed them."

"But at least someone will mourn their passing." Prue said. "I mean they would have been runaways and homeless people. All those types on the edge of society that wouldn't be missed?"

"In all likelihood." Father replied.

"Then there was nobody to mourn for them." Prue observed. "So it's only right that you do it. It's the best way to show that you're remorseful."

"I show remorse by mourning them?" I asked.

Prue nodded.

"But I always saw mourning as a way for the living to move on beyond the death of a loved one. It is to remember them yes, but it's more to help those still here."

"How can you move on with your life if you always feel guilty?" Prue demanded. "If you stew in your guilt one day you're gonna wonder what's the point of staying clean when you've already done so much carnage in the past. You may as well just give in, your soul is already damned, might as well go the whole hog."

"I would never go back to hunting humans." I said aghast.

"Well make sure you never find the need to by ridding yourself of your demons. They're past actions, and you can't go back and change it. The only thing you can do is draw a line underneath it and move on with your life with a clean slate." Prue said firmly.

"It's not that easy." I stated.

"I know." Prue said, looking deeply into my eyes once more. "But you have to start somewhere, and apologising to all those you wronged by taking a moment to remember every one of them seems the right place to start. Don't you agree?"

"It sounds sensible." I admitted. "But I don't know their names to give them a proper memorial."

"You don't have to know their names, just remember something about them and then let them go." Prue said softly.

"I will give you time to think on it." Father observed. "If you do decide to undertake the ceremony then come find me whilst we're at the Summit."

"I will do so." I promised.

Father nodded, then returned to his seat.

"I should get back in my seat too." Prue said, as she moved from my lap to the seat beside me.

"Why?" I asked.

"I think we're about to start landing." She replied as she buckled up her seatbelt.

"So soon?" I asked.

"Yeah. Guess I was more distracting than you thought." Prue said with a grin.

I felt the laughter take me and I allowed it for a moment. Then I took Prue's hand and half turned to her to view her.

"You are the perfect type of distraction." I stated.

"Glad to hear it." Prue replied. "Just wish I could distract you through landing."

"Just speak to me and hold my hand. It takes my mind off the descent." I stated.

"Ok." Prue said. "Although now I'm not sure what I'm gonna talk about."

"How you feel that your sister is about to be married." I suggested.

"Oh yeah. It seems kinda rushed, but I've known since she was sixteen that she'd marry Tony someday. It was so obvious you know? There was just that spark between them. That thing that made them click so much. I would have been completely shocked if they'd both ended up with different people."

I made sounds of agreement and allowed Prue's words to wash around me as the plane made its slow fall to the ground. It took my mind off the landing and off the thoughts that were bubbling away at the back of my mind. The thoughts that I should take father up on his offer and seek his guidance in appeasing my soul.

As the plane touched the tarmac I had almost convinced myself that I should.

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**Thank you for reading**

**Please review**

**Gemma x**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Twilight is the property of Stephenie Meyer**

**This chapter is dedicated to Noble, Fadewind, M-Bianca94, Alphabloodwolf, Patricia, Alexsandra, Lsb123 and BellaNessieCullen**

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**Prue**

The vampire HQ wasn't what I'd been expecting. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it hadn't been a rambling ranch style house and a one-storey conference building surrounded by a few dozen houses. It was almost like a town. I guess it was vamp town. Liza explained that the members of the guard lived in the ranch style house along with Jane and Fred. Meetings took place in the conference building. The other houses could be rented by anyone who wanted to stay near HQ. Right now they were packed out because of the Summit. Although vamps don't need to sleep, they do like to have somewhere private to go to between whatever they came to the Summit to do. And the half vamps needed to sleep so they needed bedrooms. There was a two-hundred-room hotel just out of sight to cater especially for this. Since Liza's family were something like vamp royalty, or at least celebrities, they got to stay in the ranch house, which was off limits to civilians.

Due to my connections with quite a few vamps, little old human me got to see things that some vamps would give their left arm to see. Jane liked her private quarters and also thought that the guard should have their own quarters too. There was also guest quarters, but this wasn't widely known, for those who Jane allowed to stay in the house. People like the Cullens and the Blacks and her nieces and nephews. I got an invite from my connection to the Blacks and my newly formed connection to Tibbi.

He was real eager to show me around, but I had big sister duty to attend to first so I found out where Grace was. She was in quite a nice room, all big and airy with a king size bed and a TV area. Grace was sat working away at her latest novel when I entered.

"I'm sure even Grace Pearson can give writing a rest two days before her own wedding." I said, stopping in the doorway and smiling when she looked up.

"Prue! You made it!" She gasped as she came to hug me.

"I couldn't miss my baby sister's wedding now could I?" I observed as I hugged her back.

"I know. I just wasn't sure you'd get here on time never mind so soon." She said. "What with it being so short notice."

"Well miracles are possible when you got Auntie Jane's private jet." I stated.

"You got to go on Jane's jet?" Grace asked in amazement.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Wow. Liza really is a good negotiator. They usually only pull out the jet for official guard business." Grace observed.

"Well, you know Liza." I said as Grace stepped away and motioned me further into the room. "You know, I thought you'd be running around like a headless chicken trying to get everything sorted out."

"I got the best wedding planners in the business on to it." Grace said. "Anyway, most of it is a package deal. You show up at your allotted time, say your vows and voila."

"Really?" I asked. "Seems a little 'drive through chapel' to me." I observed.

"Maybe, but you know I don't like fuss, and really it's to stop all the nagging. Can't me and Tony just be together forever without a piece of paper tying us? But people really want to see you hitched. It's like they don't think you'll make it, or that maybe you're not an official couple without that last little binding." She said with a wary sigh.

"You ain't fooling no one Grace, I know you've always wanted to marry Tony. I saw your diary in freshman year. All those little hearts and seeing whether you should be Grace Summers, Grace Pearson-Summers, Grace Summers-Pearson… Need I go on?"

"Ok. So I guess I'm not entirely opposed to the institution of marriage, but the constant questioning is annoying." Grace replied.

"It must be."

Grace nodded.

"But if I'm honest I'm ok with everything taken out of my hands because if Tony and I did plan something even slightly big… I've already had several magazines offering money for the rights to the wedding photos. That was three months ago, officially we'd only been dating a few weeks, but they all wanted the scoop on Grace Pearson and her Brody." Grace sighed.

"You should have taken the cash."

"And prostitute my big day to the highest bidder?" Grace demanded.

"Ok. So don't take the cash." I said with a shrug. "I see why you'd take this opportunity. I would have liked to have planned with you though."

"I know. But look at it this way, now you get all the fun of being my maid of honour at the bachelorette party without the headache of talking me down off the ledge of pulling my hair out over the seating arrangements." Grace said with a grin.

"Guess I dodged the bullet with that one." I replied and Grace laughed. "So is there anything you need me to do?"

"No. Unless you want to hang out. I'm so bored here on my own, that's why I was trying to write."

"Where's Tony?" I asked with a frown.

"He has to talk to the head official of the Summit, Jane's given her blessing, but she doesn't actually run the Summit. They elect someone new to be the official every year." Grace explained.

"If he's talking to this official about the wedding shouldn't the bride be there?" I asked.

"It's because he's the oldest." Grace replied.

"You're older than him." I pointed out.

"In the actual sense yes, but not in the vampire sense. In the vampire sense he has eighteen years on me."

"Oh, so this is a senior vamp thing?" I realised.

"I think so. It's really hard getting your head around their rules sometimes. You can tell the original ones set up by our vamps to the ones added later. Even Tony was surprised that they came to fetch him this morning, we thought it was all settled last night, that's why Liza came to get you."

"He's ok right?" I asked with worry, because the Black twins were celebrities, and potential targets because of their powerful mother.

"There's nothing sinister going on." Grace said. "I'd know if Tony was in trouble."

"How?"

"I'd feel it. It's the whole imprinting bond thing. If he was in a life threatening situation, or god forbid he died, I'd know. I would know." She repeated in firmer tones.

"That's weird." I observed.

"And so is a lot of things in our life now. Can you believe the supernatural exists?" Grace asked in a conspiratorial voice.

"Still getting used to it." I said. "But the weirdest thing of all is that all these supes are not half as weird as some of the humans I've met over the years."

"I bet most of them were at that commune."

"Yeah." I agreed. "And none so weird as me."

"Prue, don't." Grace said with a look of concern.

"Don't what?" I asked feeling irritable because I kinda knew where she was going with this.

"You know what." Grace said firmly. "You start dissing yourself and you head into a funk again. I hate when you do that to yourself."

"Gee Sis, you really got that depression antenna on hyper receive." I replied, moving onto annoyed because I was nowhere near depressive at the moment, but Grace assumption was really dampening my mood. "I was only poking a little fun at myself. I'm not headed on a downward spiral and quite frankly I'm pissed off with everyone assuming that I am. First Liza lecturing me on pain medication, now you telling me I can't use self-deprecation? You're all treating me like I'm about to crack up. Well newsflash, you keep treating me like I'm about to relapse and the chances are I will."

"Sorry." Grace said, ducking her head and looking every bit the shy geek she was when we were kids.

"Sorry, I'm a bit crabby right now." I said, determined to make her feel better. "I've had one whirlwind of a weekend and then travelling. I'm a little on edge."

"A whirlwind weekend?" Grace asked. "What happened?"

"Well remember that guy who saved me from myself back in Iowa?" I asked.

"The one you call your angel, yeah." Grace said.

"Turns out he is Lilly's brother and he turned up at Tregarran." I stated.

"He did?" Grace asked with a happy smile and it was clear that she wasn't in on the plan.

"Yeah." I confirmed. "His name is Tibbi and he's every bit as handsome as I remembered. He's funny too, in that shaded from the world for most of his life so he's a little awkward kind of way. He let's his opinion be known though. And he really hates Alec."

"He has good reason."

"Yeah." I agreed. "And it gives us another thing in common."

"You're really gonna joke about that?" Grace asked with concern.

"Not really." I said with a shrug. "So you wanna meet Tibbi?"

"He's not busy?"

"No." I assured her. "He showed me to his room to drop my case off but then I had to come find my little sister to check on her before she gets married."

"I'd love to meet the guy who inspired my sister to find her way back to me." Grace stated.

"Then come on." I said, and hooked my arm through hers and I pulled her from her room and to another wing of the ranch house where Tibbi's room was located.

His door was shut when we reached it and if it was just me I would have walked straight in, after all there was likely nothing he could hide from me now. With Grace with me I thought I should give him warning in case he was doing anything private. For all I knew he liked to run around naked when he was alone in his room.

He obviously wasn't doing anything like that though because he opened his door immediately and he smiled at me and then looked at Grace with a frown.

"This is my little sister Grace." I said. "Grace, this is Tibbi."

"I'm pleased to meet you." Grace said, holding out her hand.

"It is an honour to meet the sister of my Prue." Tibbi said in a smooth voice as he took Grace's hand and kissed the back of it, and I got to say I was all kinds of relieved that he wasn't showing Grace the same type of hostility he showed Liza. "Are you the same Grace Pearson of literary fame?"

"I'd hardly call my books literature." Grace said, blushing. "And we're not here to talk about me, I've come to thank the man who helped my sister find her way back to me."

"She had a precious light, I couldn't let it diminish." Tibbi said, still talking to Grace, but now his eyes were locked on mine and his hand came up to stroke my cheek.

"If you were Quileute I'd say you'd imprinted." Grace observed with a smile. "But since you're a half vamp it's clear Prue is your true mate."

Tibbi's eyes widened slightly and he turned back to Grace.

"You are right, that is the bond I feel, but I couldn't put it into words. Now I know that's what it is. The bond of true mates." Tibbi said, he looked happy about the fact that we were bound through some supernatural deal, but there was a worry underlying it and Grace tried to communicate what it was, but I was a little rusty on the old sisterly Morse code.

"That makes it special right?" I asked. "Kinda like soulmates."

"Yeah." Grace said.

That was food for thought because really I didn't feel any different from when I'd been attracted to other guys in the past. Maybe I wasn't looking deep enough to get the right idea. Maybe the sexual attraction was overriding the deeper feelings at the moment. Maybe I was unconsciously suppressing the deeper feelings because I was being my old commitment-phobe self. I had to think about it later.

"I am sorry if I'm rude in asking, but how is your sister a vampire when you are human? Did you have separate fathers perhaps?" Tibbi asked suddenly as if the question popped into his head and he couldn't stop himself from asking.

"No." I replied.

"Then your father, he was turned after you were born?" He surmised.

"Not at all." I replied.

"I was born human." Grace said.

"But you are a hybrid." Tibbi stated, having to think of an appropriate term since he really did need to distinguish the vamps from the half vamps with Grace that went beyond being born as one.

"Yes." Grace confirmed.

"How?"

"We're not one hundred percent sure, but Carlisle thinks it's because Tony got his blood in my system before his venom and it counteracted the effects. I got changed halfway and now I'm like most other dhampir." Grace explained.

"Amazing." Tibbi observed.

"It is." Grace said, and she was getting a little agitated now, she didn't like discussing private matters with strangers. "I can see why Prue thought you were an angel." She said, changing the subject.

"Thank you." Tibbi said, taking the compliment.

"Oh, Tony's back." Grace said with a smile. "I'll go let him know you've arrived and we can meet up for drinks or something later? I'll let you know what's happening as soon as I know."

"See you later Sis." I said and hugged her and kissed her cheek before she walked back the way we'd come.

I wasn't sure if Tony was back, but it was clear that Grace was starting to feel uncomfortable. It was always better to let her go do her own thing when that happened. She was still awkward around new people, and given the crappy time she had in school I couldn't blame her. I waited until Grace was out of sight before I turned to Tibbi.

"Are we gonna stay in the hall all day?" I asked.

"Oh, sorry." He said and stepped back into his room and I followed.

His room was smaller than the one that Grace and Tony were staying in, but it was still nice in a utilitarian way. There wasn't a thing in here that marked it as Tibbi's property. Not even a DVD case sitting on top of the player.

"You never did plan on staying here long did you?" I asked as I sat down on the foot of his bed.

"Can you imagine living here?" He asked as he sat next to me, his arm resting behind me but not quite around me.

"Not really. It's a bit of a morgue." I observed.

"Too many dead people." He said with a wry smile.

"You don't want to let the vampires hear you say that." I teased.

"What are they going to do? Bite me?" Tibbi demanded.

"Not if I get there first." I growled and pretended to nibble at his neck, pushing him back on the bed.

"I am the vampire." He said as he rolled me onto my back and his lips pressed to my throat and I felt my stomach flutter as he began to suck.

I felt his teeth graze my skin for a second and I let out a moan. He was off me like a shot, standing over the other side of the room as he looked at me with horror.

"What did I do?" I asked.

"I… Oh god." He gasped and sank to the floor, burying his face in his arms folded on his knees.

"What's wrong?" I asked, going toward him and reaching out a hand.

"I…" He said in a muffled voice. "I nearly bit you."

"Really?" I asked, sitting down beside him.

"I nearly did." He murmured.

"No." I said and tried to pull his arms apart and raise his head. "I don't think you would." I added, giving up on that plan when it was clear I couldn't budge him.

"I felt your pulse beneath my lips and then the urge to bite." He replied.

I frowned for a moment, and then stuck my arm in through the gap between his lap and his arms. I moved my hand up until I felt his lips against my wrist. Tibbi lifted his head and looked at me shocked.

"Did you feel the urge to bite me then?" I demanded.

Tibbi shook his head.

"Oh Tibbi, you can't fret when you feel a natural instinct, because you won't hurt me will you?" I asked, placing my hand to his cheek. "Even if you get the urge, your instinct to protect your true mate will override it as your dominant urge, am I right?"

"Yes, yes you are right." He stated.

"And so you wanted to bite me, humans do that sometimes, just a playful graze of teeth. I mean actual biting is heading into a different kind of sex play, but it's ok to experiment a little." I explained.

"But what if our experimenting leads to your death?" He whispered in horror.

"Then how about we make a deal?" I asked. "If I die because of you then I'll kill you."

"How? You will be dead." Tibbi asked with a frown.

"I'll come back and haunt you to death." I said firmly. "Do you doubt I can?"

"Not for a second." Tibbi replied.

"Then stop worrying." I said, putting my hands on his cheeks and kissing his lips.

"I don't want to cause your death." He said, putting his arms around my waist, and as he lowered his legs I sat in his lap.

"I know." I said, stroking above his ear. "But if it happens it happens, there's not much we can do about it. So stop worrying and lets kiss a while before anyone wants us anywhere."

Tibbi let out a laugh and shook his head as if he couldn't quite believe I was real. I was starting to wonder if I was real myself. I'm not stupid, I know vamps can lose it, but somehow I couldn't see a world where Tibbi could hurt me in that way. He would protect me, just like I'd do everything in my very limited power to protect him. And bingo, that's how I knew he meant so much more to me than any other guy I'd ever met. That's when I knew for definite that there was some weird supernatural link between us.

I leaned into him and kissed him, letting all my senses explore him now. I hadn't really thought about it much until that moment, but my body reacted to everything he did. No wonder the sex had been so good, it had nothing to do with his technique and everything to do with the direct link he seemed to have to every egregious zone on my body. And he didn't even realise it. The more I took note of what he was actually doing the more I noticed how nervous he still was with me, unsure of what he should be doing. I had to encourage him to get more into this; to stop worrying and go with what he thinks is right. I wouldn't get on his case yet though, it could wait till we were back home.

Weird, where would back home be now? Did I want to stay living at the Stables? Maybe I should start looking into property when I got back. Grace and Tony would need their space, and although I'm not shy I could see the impracticality of us all living on top of each other forever. I'd have to phone Garry, I know he's a literary agent, but he's also clued into most legal things so he could help me big time.

He is my father after all; it's about time he acted like it.

They were strange thoughts to be having while making out with my, was Tibbi my boyfriend? We hadn't actually discussed us relationship wise, we'd just had sex a few times. That didn't usually indicate a full on relationship to me. Maybe it was time we discussed it before we had any awkward encounters.

I pulled away from him and stood up. I pulled him to his feet.

"We need to talk." I said, and led him over to the two armchairs, taking one while he sat slowly in the other looking worried.

I turned my chair so I could face him. I looked into his deep brown eyes with their warm caramel centres and I took his hands. I brought them to my lips and kissed them and he relaxed a little.

"This isn't anything bad." I assured him. "I just realised that we haven't actually discussed what we are to each other."

"I'm confused." He stated.

"I know honey, and I'm sorry to do that to you. But we need to be grown up about this. It's not just that we have a bond; we belong together, what does that mean exactly? I can't say this is Tibbi, we belong together. What do I call you? Are we going steady?" I asked, falling over my words as I tried to find the best way to frame the question.

"Going steady?" Tibbi asked with a frown.

"Come on kid, you told me you watched American movies, you gotta know what that means." When it was clear that he didn't I sighed. "Are we exclusive? Are we an item. Do I call you my boyfriend?"

"You want me to be your boyfriend?" He asked.

"Well it's kind of a given since we're all bound together by weird supernatural ties." I said. "I just want to know what terminology you won't find offensive."

"Boyfriend is fine." Tibbi said. "If I can say you're my girlfriend." He added a little shyly.

"Well I certainly ain't a boy." I declared. "I just wanted to check that that term is fine and you don't want to go with something more fancy."

"You are my life partner, but that sounds so stiff." Tibbi said, wrinkling his nose. "Girlfriend is much more friendly, _mi amore_." He added as he took my hand and kissed the back of it. "You can call me whatever you like."

"Then I can say to all the folks back home that this is Tiberius, my ridiculously handsome new boyfriend."

"Ridiculously handsome?" Tibbi asked with a pout that set off his full lips well.

"Well yeah." I said, moving into his lap and draping my arm around his neck. "No one should be as handsome as you and not be some kind of god."

"But you are the goddess." Tibbi interjected, "I am merely your angel to command as you see fit."

"Wow Tiberius, you sure know how to use the right words." I whispered, before placing my lips against his. "It feels like I don't deserve you."

"Don't be stupid." Tibbi gasped. "I don't deserve you, forgiving beautiful human that you are." He added as he stroked my cheek and hair. "If only I could preserve you without confining you to the eternal cold."

"If I had access to the fountain of youth I'd take it." I said. "But I guess I'm not quite ready to be a vampire yet. Maybe in a year or two I'd consider it, but I would like to at least try for a kid with a guy who loves and supports me and will see me through any difficulties."

"What difficulties?" Tibbi asked carefully, as if he didn't want to pry, but it was about time I explained this to him.

"I told you that I got pregnant." I whispered, laying my cheek on his shoulder and closing my eyes so I couldn't see him as I spoke. "I didn't tell you what happened."

"Where is the child now?"

I felt the threat of tears, but I pushed them back, determined to get this all out before I broke down.

"Do you know what an ectopic pregnancy is?" I asked.

"That is when the baby attaches to the fallopian tube rather than the womb and has to be…" Tibbi trailed off. "Oh dear god, that's what happened." He gasped as he pulled me closer to him. "You…"

"She'd be eight years old right now." I stated. "My little daughter, she had no chance of surviving, and my rat of a… I don't even want to call him my boyfriend now, he's a non-person. I was grieving and dying and he just… I let myself out of the hospital early, what was the point staying in that place my daughter died. The place where they put her down like she was some kind of lame dog." I sobbed, shook my head, determined to get on with my story. "I got out early, and ringing that darling sweetheart of mine was no good, I couldn't get through to him on the phone. So I had to make my own way back to the apartment and let myself in and he was there with the slut I thought was my best friend at the time."

"You were in hospital going through a soul destroying experience, never mind a life threatening one, and he was betraying you with your friend?" Tibbi asked in disgust.

"He did that, but it's not important." I said, brushing it aside. "Really not important. I just want to tell you that I got half my insides ripped out. My chances of getting pregnant now are practically zero, but I would like a child of my own." I stated. "When I was younger it really wasn't something I wanted, I knew I was a lot like Ingrid and she was no kind of mother to me I was worried I'd be the same. I didn't want kids until I was pregnant and suddenly everything seemed right, and then I lost her. That tore me, broke me, sent me spiralling into an abyss of abusing my body with substances that are not exactly legal. In that time the concept of having a child was an abstract, it was part of being a woman, you know, all cycles of nature and the earth, man. I'm just glad it never happened in those years I was in the commune, can you imagine letting a kid get brought up in that environment? Anyway, the thought of a child of my own was in the back of my mind, then I started looking after Billie. She's such a sweet kid and it got me to thinking that if I don't ever have any kids of my own then I wouldn't mind adopting. Although my own flesh and blood would be nice, if it's not possible then the opportunity to help guide someone through childhood and into a steady adulthood would be reward enough for me."

I realised I'd been rambling on for a while and that Tibbi had gone very quiet.

"I'm not scaring you off with all this talk of kids am I?" I asked, sitting up so I could look at his face.

"No." He said with a shake of his head. "I was leaving you speak, it seemed you needed to have this said and I didn't want to interrupt. The truth is I've never thought about children of my own. There's never been an opportunity for it to become reality and so I've never entertained the idea."

"What about now?" I asked, just out of curiosity and making it clear I wasn't putting pressure on him.

"Now there is the opportunity I wonder what father I would make. Would I be sufficient? My upbringing was unconventional to say the least." He said carefully.

"Well if you want to think about it in more normal terms, you were raised in an orphanage. So the other kids there were your half sibs, but it was still like an orphanage. That doesn't mean you can't be part of a loving family or that you won't be a good father. I always thought I'd be a bad mother because of Ingrid, but I don't think that anymore. If you have rubbish parents then you either follow their example and perpetuate the cycle of misery, or you do something about it and make sure you're the best damn parent you can be. It's easier if you have someone who loves and supports you through it. So you can either be lazy and end up like your father, or you can work with me to raise happy healthy kids who respect us as we respect them."

"That is a good argument." Tibbi said.

"But you're not quite ready for the whole kid thing yet." I stated, because that much was clear but he was too uncertain to state it himself. "I mean we only just met, it's stupid of me to even bring it up, it's rule one in how to scare a guy away on a first date, but we're getting serious right? Even if it's so quick I feel like I'm on a high-speed train hurtling toward some unknown destination. The point is, you've made it clear that you want to spend the rest of your life with me, and against my experience, and I've had a lot of experience in this area, my soul, or whatever the hell it is that drives my body, seems to want you forever too. I'm not gonna argue with it. But if we're gonna spend our lives together then we need to discuss what we want in our lives, and one of the things I definitely want is kids, and if we can't have them the traditional way then I'd like to adopt. But it doesn't have to be right away, a year down the line will be good, it at least gets us used to living with each other and whatever."

"I'm not opposed to children, in fact I like the idea of a child of my own, but not yet." Tibbi admitted when he realised it was ok to. "Is it selfish that I want you all to myself for a little while before I have to share you with our children?"

"Well as long as you don't mind sharing my love when we do have kids I'll let you off this time." I said, and kissed him.

I stood up then, wiping the tears from my face, they'd escaped without me realising, and I felt stupid. I needed to lighten the mood.

"God, that got kinda heavy for a minuet there." I said, forcing myself to smile. "So what do you do for fun around here?"

"Would you like to go to the Summit?" Tibbi asked after thinking for a moment.

"Am I allowed?" I asked.

"As long as you're escorted by a vampire." He said, rising to his feet. "But it's mostly for your protection. There are still some carnivores, and although this is vegetarian land they'd see a human who wondered into proceedings as fair pickings."

"Why does the threat of becoming vamp chow suddenly make me want to go all the more?" I asked.

"You like to court danger." Tibbi said as he twirled me around until my back was to him and he hugged me from behind, his lips close to my ear when he spoke. "Why else would you entrust your life to a vampire."

"Because I'm an idiot with a death wish." I joked, leaning back into him and enjoying his embrace for a moment as he placed his lips to my throat.

Then I twirled out of his arms, managing not to wince as my left knee protested again, and stepped away from him. I kept hold of his hand and smiled at him.

"So show me the way." I said. "And will I need any cash?"

"It's my treat." Tibbi said firmly. "You treated me at the restaurant, I should return the favour."

"Ok." I agreed. "Shall we go now?"

"Yes." Tibbi said and he pulled me toward the door, and then paused. "But we should tell Aunt Jane first in case she has use of us."

"Then let's go talk to Jane." I said, not looking forward to it at all.

As Tibbi led me down the hallway and back to the big open sitting area that was the atrium of the house I felt the twinges in my knee again. It was starting to gently throb as the anti-inflammatory and Tibbi's brand of painkiller started to wear off. I wouldn't let it control me though, I walked through the pain, determined not to limp as Tibbi led me up one of the sweeping staircases toward the first floor. There were three directions to choose from up here and Tibbi led me straight ahead to one set of double doors.

He knocked on the door and I heard the slight whine of mechanical movement. I looked up to see a little camera focusing in on us. There was the sound of a buzzer and the double doors swung open to reveal a comfortable looking office. Jane was sat behind the desk and Fred was standing over by the window if the fact that I was finding it hard to look that way was anything to go by.

"Tibbi, you're back." She observed. "And you've brought Prue with you. How delightful that Lilly's theory was correct."

"She told you?" I asked in amazement.

"There's not much my family keep from me." Jane said, "Besides, she wanted my help in convincing Tibbi to pay her a visit in Washington. Please take a seat before you collapse under the strain of your bad knee,"

It was a nice gesture, but you could tell from her tone that she was trying to get to me. The first time I'd met Jane it was hate at first sight. We were both alpha females and neither of us were willing to compromise. On the other hand I wasn't about to be uncomfortable just to prove I was tougher that she thought. I was human and my knee was aching, I was sitting down and I was going to over play the politeness, just like she was.

"Thanks." I said, sitting down.

Tibbi sat down too, but he kept a hold of my hand. It was something that Jane noticed and she smiled. It looked like the smile of an aunt who was happy her nephew had found someone, but my bad first impression of Jane insisted that she was smiling sarcastically.

"That's why you allowed me to go despite the Summit?" Tibbi asked.

"There was no reason to keep you here." Jane said with a shrug. "The Summit isn't compulsory."

"I thought new vamps had to register at the Summit." I stated.

"No." Jane said. "But all new vampires must register. Whether they're newborns or just moving to America, I like to know who's here. It's the easiest way to keep an eye on them. They can register any time they want, but they find it easier to do it at the Summit when everyone's here. It's a good way to make connections. And to get to know your neighbours. But Tibbi was already registered when he came here with his siblings. The Summit was optional and he decided to take up Lilly's invitation to visit her when I didn't have any tasks I needed him to do."

"But you knew she wouldn't be there?" Tibbi asked.

"Yes. She was coming to the Summit to see it for herself, and also give you a little room to get to know Prue." Jane replied.

"And you knew it was me right?" I asked.

"Of course." Jane said without batting an eyelid or showing any hint of disgust.

"Somehow I thought you'd have a problem with that." I said with a frown.

"Why? Because I don't like you? My feelings of you have no bearing on this matter provided you make Tibbi happy." Jane stated. "And I do like you Prue. You have spirit; I just don't like it when you're insubordinate. It's annoying, but you're young and headstrong, I can't expect you to follow orders."

"I'm human too, so I'm not subject to you." I added for good measure. "Well here I guess I am, but not on my turf."

"No." Jane said, her face suddenly blank as she stared at me.

"Aunt Jane, we wish to see the Summit too, but I thought to come let you know first." Tibbi said in a careful way that made it clear he was trying to draw Jane's attention to him.

"Oh." Jane said, turning to him. "Then I guess it's good you came to see me first. I think it's best you leave the Summit until tomorrow. There's a feast tonight in honour of Tony and Grace. It's a private function held here in the house. It's best you don't go wondering off after the expense I went to in order to ensure your swift arrival. Besides I don't want you going in there unprotected."

"I will protect her." Tibbi said firmly.

"I know you will Tibbi, and that's the problem." Jane said soothingly. "The Summit is a good place to make friends, but it's also a good place to make enemies. They are usually the carnivores that are not so fond of us vegetarians; they merely tolerate us because there have been less fighting and hostile takeovers since we've been in charge. They're just looking for the right excuse for a little personal enmity, and their usual object to vent that rage at a pretentious half blood denying their right to feed. Never mind the fact that it is illegal to feed from humans in this state, they choose to see it as a dhampir attempting to control them and willingly starts a vendetta against them. As you may well appreciate I don't want my nephew subjected to such a vendetta, therefore I suggest you wait until tomorrow when I know a handful of the Cullens are going to the Summit."

"Then we'll leave it till tomorrow." I said, not seeing any point in arguing. "What time is dinner? Is it formalwear?"

"Nothing extravagant, but more formal than jeans and t-shirt." Jane said. "And we are all meeting at eight."

"Ok." I said, rising to my feet. "Thanks for the heads up."

"I merely wish to keep the peace. It's part of my job." Jane said dismissively.

"And protect your family." I said with a smile. "I like that."

"Then I am not the monster you thought me to be?"

"I never thought you were a monster." I said. "I thought you were a bitch, like me. We both like to be in control and when are opinions clash that's when we're gonna rub each other up the wrong way. But now we're on the same page…" I shrugged.

"I like that you're honest." Jane said. "If you get tired of babysitting Billie, maybe you could come work for me. I need a few more advisers willing to speak their mind. I feel like I'm surrounded by a bunch of yes men,"

"That's the trouble when you get powerful, people are too afraid to tell you the truth." I observed. "I had a lot of that in high school. It was cool at first, but it soon got boring. You know?"

"I know." Jane said.

"Well I guess I'll see you at the feast." I said.

"I will see you later Aunt Jane." Tibbi said, standing too and nodding his head.

"Yes." Jane replied. "Goodbye."

"Bye." I said. "And it was nice not seeing you again Fred."

Fred appeared for a moment, waved to me, and then wavered back out of existence while Jane looked, was she amused? Great, I was starting to feel like a performing seal; next she'd be offering me treats to balance a ball on my nose. Before I could really dwell on those thoughts and end up saying something stupid, I took Tibbi's hand and led him out of Jane's office, completely ignoring my knee as I moved swiftly back toward the sweeping double staircase.

"What's wrong?" Tibbi asked.

"I'm being smart for once." I replied. "Thought I should get the hell out of Dodge before I said something that shredded the sudden fondness Jane seems to have for me. I don't want to be in the bad books of one of your family members."

"You have history with Aunt Jane?" Tibbi asked.

"More like a bad first impression." I said as I began to descend the stairs. "Let's say that thanks to my not knowing anything about the supernatural when I first met her we both came off as snotty nosed brats who didn't know how to respect their elders to the other. I thought she was a kid who had no right sticking her nose into my family business, and she thought I was rude. It was just one of those type of things, exacerbated by the fact that we both think we should lead."

"That would prove to be a problem." Tibbi observed as we reached his room and stepped inside. "I have noticed that Aunt Jane sometimes forgets not everyone knows who she is. It makes her grumpy when she doesn't think she's getting the respect she deserves."

"Especially when she deserves some respect from what I've heard." I said. "She spearheaded unifying the vampires of America and pulling them out from under Volturi rule right?"

"That's exactly what she did."

"That's kinda cool, and I probably wouldn't have been so blunt with her when I first met her if I'd known that. But all I knew was that my boss was acting strange, carting me back from Seattle in a chopper at silly o'clock in the morning and then my sis and her BF were talking in riddles and some kid was telling me to sit down and listen. I'm not the most patient of people at the best of times, but when my tempers already frayed."

"I can see why you would be…less than hospitable." Tibbi said diplomatically.

"And that's what I like about you kid, you sugar coat the insults." I said, and kissed him. "So you got a working shower? I'd like to freshen up before we get ready for this dinner this evening."

"I have a shower, and a bath too." Tibbi said. "It's through that door there."

"Good." I said in serious tones, before I shot him a flirtatious look. "Would you care to join me?"

"You need to ask?" Tibbi replied, stroking my cheek.

"Then I guess you'd better show me how your shower works." I said with a wink and Tibbi grinned as he rose to his feet and led me into his bathroom.

At about quarter to eight there was a knock on the door. Tibbi answered it since it was his room. It was Liza and Mal; they'd come to escort us to the feast so we followed behind them as they led us back to the atrium of the house and through the double doors between the stairs. There was a grand dining room and I had to wonder a little why a house built specifically for vamps would have a dining room, but then I guess they like to sit down to converse too. Besides there were the half vamps as well.

"This is usually the guard meeting room but they've converted it for the evening." Liza whispered as she took my arm and led me to a seat that put me on the left hand side of the head of the table.

Liza disappeared on me but I found that I was opposite Essie. She smiled at me and then her eyes moved to Tibbi. She turned back to me and smiled wider.

"I see you found your angel." She observed.

"Yeah." I replied as I sat down. "Although he was sent to me really. Lilly set things up."

"Yeah. That makes sense." Essie said, and she had that expression, that one she got when a stray thought she'd picked up from someone suddenly made sense.

Tony got the same expression too from time to time. They were both powerful telepaths but from what I'd been told they tried not to use it. They liked to rein it in and keep it under lock and key, but sometimes they touched on someone's thoughts and picked up the odd little bit. Seriously, I don't think I'd have the restraint not to read that person's mind further, especially if I read something particularly juicy.

"This is Tibbi, and yes he is the guy I thought was an angel." I said. "Tibbi, this is Essie and her husband Tobias, they're Liza's parents."

Tibbi looked across the table at them.

"It is good to meet you." He said, and then his eyes lingered on Essie for a long moment and he frowned. "There's something different about you."

"Yeah." Essie said with the beginnings of a smile. "That would be the werewolf."

Tibbi looked thoughtful for a moment and then nodded his head.

"You are one of the Quileute." He said.

"Wow. It's so much better these days that that's the first conclusion people jump to. Gone are the days when they recoil in horror and check if the moon is full." Essie observed.

"Essie. Of course you are the Essie of legend. The one the Volturi called Wolf Child and thought they owned until you showed them the true extent of your power." Tibbi said in a matter-of-fact way.

"Not that I like to brag, but yeah, that's me." Essie said with a shrug.

"Then I am very pleased to make your acquaintance. If it wasn't for you Lilly would never have decided to encourage Father in planning our escape. Because of our upbringing we tend to follow Lilly's lead, and if we ever had our own idea for change then we knew we had to get Lilly on side and the others would follow. You were a big influence in encouraging her to seek an escape from our slavery when you visited when seeking freedom for all of your people here in America. It gave us a place that was truly out of the reach of the Padroni."

"The Padroni?" Essie asked. "They seriously got you calling them that?"

"Not really." Tibbi said. "We used it in a sarcastic manner when we spoke of those who thought they were better than us."

"Cool." Essie said with a grin. "That's the type of dissent I would have gone for when I was still a guest of Aro."

"You did use it with Laurana." Tobias observed.

"Yeah, but that's cause she referred to them as the Padroni and it was easier to just borrow her term when I was talking to her. Although I guess it did become sarcastic once she became a wolf. I mean why would you want to see those responsible for your becoming a werewolf as your masters?"

"I wouldn't want to see them as my masters period." I observed. "From what I've heard they're lousy to work for and I think they'd probably eat me within five minuets of me getting there. I tend to rub people in authority up the wrong way. I'm much too hot headed to obey anyone unless I want to. I could never bow down to them."

"I was the same." Essie said. "It was only my powers that let me get away with a little of my own way. Just enough to stop me really rebelling, but as you know, they made the wrong move threatening my kids."

"Don't come between a momma wolf and her kids." I quoted.

"Exactly." Essie said with a firm nod of her head.

"Talking of kids, where's Billie?" I asked.

"She was tired and so went for a nap. Liza has just gone to get her ready for the party. You know she's the only one who can get Billie into any type of party clothes." Essie said, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah." I agreed, because I could talk Billie into a lot of things, but she wouldn't budge on the subject of dresses.

Billie was a tomboy through and through, but there was something about being around her big sister that brought out her inner girly-girl. I had thought it was having her hair curled all pretty like Liza's, but when I made that offer she'd turned me down and with child bluntness told me I wouldn't do it as good as Liza. Liza was magic at curling hair and I wasn't. Well there was some things that even fairy Prue couldn't do.

"Billie is the little girl you look after?" Tibbi asked.

"Yeah." I replied. "You'll get to meet her now. She's a little treasure, so full of life and curious and no cynicism folks pick up through life. She just has this wonderful mind, and she's a joy to be around."

"Call me biased, but I have to agree." Essie said. "And I'm glad that I finally get this chance to know what it's like to actually raise my kids."

Tobias took her hand and stroked her cheek gently. I really had no sense for these things not being of the supernatural persuasion never mind a telepath, but I would have put money on the fact that Tobias was soothing Essie quietly. Knowing him it was something along the lines that it wasn't her fault. Knowing all the facts I had to agree. That was the type of situation I never wanted to find myself in, to voluntarily put myself through the torture of thinking my kids were dead in the off chance it would save their life. At the time Essie was a slave, it would have meant slavery for Liza and Tony if she'd tried to raise them in Volterra, or spent the rest of time looking over their shoulders. If I was in the same situation I'd choose to have someone else bring up my kids for me. Of course I'd jump at the chance to raise a child as soon as I could, which is what Essie had done.

"The Volturi, separating families for three thousand years." Tibbi observed as if it was a tag line in a commercial.

"Yes." Tobias agreed. "It is an ability that has always blessed Aro, he has the knack for knowing the right place to apply the leaver to ascertain maximum separation."

"Especially if erasing memories is a viable option." Tibbi returned.

"Quite." Tobias agreed and it was obvious that Essie and me had the right idea to change subject because memory wiping was a particularly thorny area where he was concerned and Tibbi didn't know that.

"So when do the happy couple arrive?" I asked. "We've really been kept in the dark about this whole thing."

"Us too, and we're the groom's parents." Essie replied.

"This is to be one of the first weddings conducted here between two dhampir." Tobias explained. "The official had to look into human laws to see how legally binding it would be for they believe it applies more to them than to vampires."

"They've seriously never done a wedding between two half vamps?" I asked, feeling incredulous. "But this whole system has been set up for years now."

"Yeah. But it's taken this long for the half vamps to realise that it isn't just some vamp trick to flush them out. Tony and Grace are the first to show an interest in getting married here. Jane sees it as a bit of a boon to be honest, Grace's books are as famous among us as they are amongst the humans, and Tony is famous in his own right, it was him and Liza who drew up the dhampir charter. Having them get married here will boost the image of the coalition as being dhampir friendly and the others will know it's a safe place for them to come."

"The fact that they saved my siblings and are taking steps to prosecute any vampire who exploit dhampir will help too." Tibbi observed.

"Yes, it is a very big help." Tobias replied. "If they trust us we can protect them, but I fear that some have had bad experiences even after the Coalition took charge and that has darkened their opinions of us."

"It must be hard setting up a new country, for that is what you are here." Tibbi observed.

"In a way." Essie said. "But I see it more as a change of management. We've always been here; we just had to kowtow to the Volturi. Now we don't."

At this point Billie appeared and climbed up into Essie's lap even though there was a chair set out for her.

"Mommy there's an awful lot of people here." She whispered.

"I know Baby, but don't worry, they're the vampire police and our family. They won't hurt you." Essie soothed.

Billie nodded and then turned her head to look around the table before she finally caught sight of me.

"Prue! You are here too?" She said excitedly and went to jump across the table to hug me, but Essie held her back.

"Now kid, best behaviour, this is a swanky dinner and you don't want to be getting food all over your dress." I stated. "And after all the trouble Liza went to to curl your hair."

Billie looked thoughtful for a moment and then nodded.

"Who is your friend?" She asked. "Is that Tibbi? Liza said he is your angel and he's here."

"Yes Billie, this is my angel Tibbi." I confirmed. "Tibbi, this is my little friend Billie."

"I'm not so little now. I growed another inch since you saw me last week. I'll be bigger than you soon." She said with a giggle

"I'm sure you will Billie-kins." I said with a smile.

"And you are quiet Tibbi. Do you talk?" Billie asked.

"Yes I can speak." Tibbi said.

"Good. I was worried you were like this boy Devon I saw once. He's my best friend but doesn't like talking. I think he doesn't. The other kids in school said he didn't talk. But he did talk to me and he gave me a bug." Billie explained as she took the stag beetle encased in resin from the little purse that matched her dress and held it out for Tibbi.

"May I?" He asked reaching for it.

"Will you give it back?" Billie asked carefully.

"On my honour." Tibbi said solemnly.

"Then by all means take a look." Billie said happily and she dropped the bug into Tibbi's outstretched hand.

He brought it to him and inspected it. Then he nodded and gave it back to Billie.

"_Lamprina aurata._ Or golden stag beetle." He observed. "A very good specimen. Your friend was very kind to give it to you."

"Yes he was." Billie said proudly as she placed the beetle back into her purse with care, she took it everywhere with her. "And that's why I gave him my friendship bracelet. I would like to see him again, but if not I always have a gift from him. That is a good friend."

"Yes." Tibbi said looking at Billie with sympathy.

The flicker of Essie's eyes made me realise he was thinking about how lonely Billie was, she couldn't really make any friends her own age and it hurt Essie that she couldn't do anything about it. Well she could have another kid, but Billie on her own demanded a lot of attention, I'd hate to imagine what two half vamp kids would be like. I wonder what it was like taking care of the twins when they were that age, or if it was better when there was two because they could occupy each other.

"I wish you many good friends in your life." Tibbi observed.

Billie beamed then turned back to her parents and started whispering to them so low I couldn't make it out. I stopped trying to and turned to Tibbi. He smiled at me then glanced at Billie for a moment. Then he leaned in close to my ear.

"I see why you are fond of her." He whispered. "She has much of your spirit."

I took that as a compliment because Billie had a nice personality, although it was nothing like mine. She was an outgoing free spirit, but she wasn't a bitch with it. Ok, so she's young yet, but I can usually tell a bitch even when they're young and I haven't been wrong yet. I didn't get to say much more because there was a fanfare just as Liza sat back in her seat. Grace and Tony came in through the double doors and they took their seats at the head of the table, Grace sitting next to me.

Grace was a lot better than she used to be, but it was obvious Liza had picked out her outfit and did her hair and makeup too. Grace looked divine in a floor-length white gown that was cut low for Grace usual style, but it was just the right side of classy and really showed off the goddess Grace could be if she didn't opt to hide herself from the world. With her hair swept up too we could almost be twins if we were dressed the same. I was thankful that Liza had chosen this style for Grace but I also felt annoyed, after all she was my sister and I should be the one to help her get ready for this important dinner. I kept my temper though; this was all such short notice that it had to be done this way.

"You look great Grace." I whispered, giving her hand a squeeze and Grace beamed, the blue of her eyes particularly dazzling tonight.

It was the one thing I'd always envied about Grace, yeah we both had blue eyes, but I had Ingrid's cool blue, whereas Grace's was a snapping electric blue that almost didn't seem real. On hindsight that should have been a big clue as to who our real father was, she had Garry's eyes, since Brigham's eyes had been ice blue too, but I guess you don't really think about that as a kid. You just get the eye envy.

"Thanks." Grace said. "Liza tortured me for hours, I would have preferred it to have been you."

I smiled in thanks, certain that Tony had caught my agitation and clued her in. They really did work well as a team. Tony was good at reading minds, but Grace had the calm presence for diplomacy. Tony tended to be awkward with words in social situations, although he did kick ass with Eclipse assholes who killed my parents. He totally took Ferguson to the cleaners that night, it was impressive, and it was the first time I thought of Tony as a grown up. I also understood what Grace saw in him, since he was usually so awkward around me he tripped over his own words. Of course it didn't help me teasing him about his inability to lie. But then he was my baby sister's boyfriend; it was my duty to tease him. I'd have to ease up now though since he'll officially be my brother-in-law. All the more reason for me to find my own place because I just can't see me not teasing Tony if we're living that close together.

So this feast started and it was weird, the vamps being presented with dishes they didn't touch. What a waste of food!

Needless to say I gave my best to Grace and Tony and got the hell out of the place before they cracked open the _Château de Sang Animal _or I'd have to throw up all the haute cuisine I'd ate. As I left, I noticed I was the only human present, and when Tibbi went to leave I gestured for him to stay and I would meet with him later.

Out in the atrium I discovered I wasn't the only human after all. Olwen was there, the woman who not so long ago was a cause of my great heartache. Hunter, the only guy I'd ever considered a real keeper had always seemed distant when it came to long-term commitment, when I found out about the supernatural it made sense, but it didn't stop that stab in my heart when he imprinted on Olwen. Up until Tibbi he was the love of my life.

There was also another beef I had with Olwen, even though it was accidental and Grace told me that it never would have happened if she hadn't brought the gun into proceedings, this was the woman who had killed my sister. If it hadn't been for Tony's fast thinking and a stroke of fluke, Grace would be under six foot of sod right now, and not here planning her wedding. Worst thing of all, I'd be none the wiser that my little baby sister had bit the dust cause without the supernatural I'd still be sitting in a faux happy cloud in Iowa. There was a lot of reasons for me to hate on Olwen and I hadn't really spoke to her to form any other opinion of her.

"It saddens my heart, but he must take blood. At least it animal blood." Olwen said, looking at the double doors with an alertness that was chilling in someone who was more or less human. It really did point out that she wasn't from this time despite the modern dress and hair product.

"At least they're not marching humans in there." I observed.

Olwen turned to me and her look was frightened really, like she hadn't considered that was a possibility.

"This is veggie land." I said. "It'll definitely be animals."

"I no like it here." She said, coming to my side and she actually took my hand. "It is being in the village of the enemy with no weapon to defend."

"Yeah. It's hard loving a half vamp." I said.

Olwen quirked her head toward me, and then her eyebrows went up before she pulled me over to one of the many sofas and pulled me down. She placed her hands either side of my face and looked deep into my eyes. I swear I felt some kind of ancient magic fall over me, like she was using some kind of Druid hoodoo on me.

"You are sad in your heart. You love a living stone man, but you think you can't be with him forever unless you become dead stone." She intoned.

"You mean a vampire. Yeah, there's no alternative if I want to live forever with him, but he doesn't want me to become cold, and I don't want to be a full vampire. Not really. Why would I do that and completely cut all my chances of becoming a mom? They're slim enough as it is."

"You can be living stone." Olwen stated.

"What?" I asked with a frown, sometimes it was hard to understand Olwen's terminology.

"Like Grace, your sister. You can be living stone like her. It was not…one off. The blood it heal, the venom change. The blood heal more than the venom change."

"What?" I asked with a frown. "You're saying I could be a made half vamp like Grace?"

"Yes." Olwen said with a firm nod. "I thought the stone men were unnatural, they feel that way at times. They are something other, beyond the knowledge we know. They must be natural or how the children? The children are the secret, they have flowing blood. The blood it heals, it makes a shield when the venom goes though so they not change all the way."

"Oh wow. Does anyone else know this?" I asked.

"I tell Hunter, but we are busy." She said with a telling smile.

"I'm sure you are." I said. "Ok. We need to talk to Carlisle. No offence, but I need to check out the science side just to be certain. Because if it is available then I wanna take it. But I have to be certain."

"Then we will talk with Carlisle. Be certain of what we do." Olwen said.

"I guess we wait until the dinner's over then." I said, and looked to the door waiting on what could mean a long future for me.

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**There should be one more chapter of this to round things off then I'll get back to DH**

**Thank you for reading**

**Please review**

**Gemma x**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Twilight is the property of Stephenie Meyer**

**There are two chapters this week because I've been having Internet troubles. Ch4 would have been up last Friday otherwise and this one today. This is the last chapter for V&A so I'll be back to DH next week.**

**This chapter is dedicated to Noble, Fadewind, M-Bianca94, Alphabloodwolf, Patricia, Alexsandra, Lsb123 and BellaNessieCullen**

* * *

"As you know, Tony and Grace have recently ran a few experiments with me. We have compared Grace's blood to that of other dhampir as well as the ones of Quileute descent such as Essie and Tony. It appears that she is a dhampir in everyway." Carlisle was saying. "We did run a few tests with drops of human blood mixed with dhampir blood. It appears that human blood mixed with dhampir blood lasts longer before succumbing to venom. However, it's not proof that what happened with Grace could be replicated."

"But it's a strong indication right?" I asked.

"Yes." Carlisle replied after a moment deliberating.

"So what you need now is a human test subject." I said once I knew that I was certain about this.

"That would be ideal, but it would be unethical to subject anyone to such an experiment." Carlisle said softly.

"What if they volunteered?" I asked. "If they knew there were risks, would you be ok with it then?"

"The problem is, we don't know all the risks." Carlisle stated.

"Well what I see is three possibilities. One, it works out and we have a new dhampir. Two, it doesn't work, but we have a new vampire. Three, the person dies, but at least they give it a shot." I argued. "It's for the sake of science, that's noble right?"

"You are thinking of volunteering yourself." Carlisle guessed, but then there wasn't much you could get past an intelligent guy like Carlisle, especially when he'd been around for six hundred years.

"Well if there's a chance I got a lot of reasons to take it." I stated.

"It's not a decision you should make on a whim." Carlisle observed.

"I know." I replied.

"Then perhaps you should leave it a few days to think about it then come back to me and we can discuss it some more."

"Yeah. Sounds good." I replied.

Carlisle stopped what he was about to say and looked up when Olwen and I did, as the double doors opened and everyone else started filing out of the bid dining room. Carlisle had ducked out early because Hunter had told him telepathically that Olwen wanted him.

Now the three of us stood up and watched everyone emerge. Esme, looking as effortlessly glamorous as ever came up to us first and took Carlisle's hand. She looked between the three of us, obviously curious, but she was too well mannered to ask what we were talking about, she'd wait until later when she was alone with Carlisle. Then Hunter was there, he probably already knew the score using his mind reading. He'd get the bigger picture when he discussed it with Olwen later. Tibbi was the last to join our group and he sure did look confused about why I was in a group full of vamps.

"Tibbi, I'd like you to meet an old friend of mine. This is Hunter, he's Tony's uncle, but closer to my age so we hung out on the Res. And this is his partner Olwen." I said, introducing them.

Tibbi shook hands with them and frowned at Olwen.

"You are old." He said. "But you are human."

"How you know I old?" Olwen asked suspiciously.

"It's in your eyes." Tibbi stated. "Take Carlisle here, he may look like a man in his twenties, but look in his eyes and you see the measure of the years they've seen."

"That is great insight." Olwen replied. "And we would talk longer, but we must prepare for the solstice."

"Isn't that Monday?" Tibbi asked.

"Yes. But there is much to prepare." Olwen said.

"The wedding has made our time scarce so we got to make sure everything's ready to go smoothly." Hunter added.

Then they both said goodbye and left.

"I guess we should go and catch up on our sleep." I said, taking Tibbi's arm and pulling him toward his room.

We said goodbye to Carlisle and Esme, that was only polite, but otherwise I made it clear that I wanted to be alone with Tibbi. It was weird, but I didn't want to tell him about what Olwen had told me just yet. I guess deep down I wanted the chance to think everything through on my own without any input from anyone else. It was my body and my decision, but I knew that until I was absolutely one hundred percent certain of what I wanted to do there was the chance that Tibbi could sway me either way. But it was my body, my life, my decision, and as much as I could see myself spending eternity with Tibbi I hadn't known him long enough yet let him influence me either way on this choice.

"We have sleep to catch up on?" Tibbi asked once we were inside his room.

"Well not really." I said. "It's just an excuse to cut out early and spend some time alone together." I added as I ran my hands up his chest to his shoulders.

"I see." He said, his hands trailing around my waist. "And it had nothing to do with getting me away from Carlisle and Esme?"

"Not at all." I said earnestly. "I just want you all to myself. Call it selfish, but it's hard to concentrate on any conversation when all I got is a picture of you in my head doing all the right kind of naughty things to me."

"Really?" Tibbi asked in amazement.

"Don't you?" I countered.

"Of course. But I would not have thought a woman would think of such things." He said a little on the shy side.

"Well this woman has a high sex drive and I had a bit of a drought lately. Now I got me a steady supply I'm going to be thinking about it all the time. Is that going to be a problem?" I asked, kissing up his jaw to his ear.

"No." He managed to say, as he became putty in my hands.

"Good." I replied as I led him over to the bed. "Cause I'm more than parched right now."

Tibbi nodded as his hands came up to unzip the back of my dress. He was going to do it quickly, but I encouraged him to slow it down a little, and take some sensual delight in stripping. Yeah, the tearing our clothes off quickly was fun, but sometimes taking things slowly could be their own reward.

I decided to guide Tibbi a little into doing what I liked, at the same time I experimented to find out what he liked. It was a two way street after all, and I wanted him to enjoy everything as much as I did. Of course once we got right into the fun it was hard to keep notes and what in particular stoked our passion didn't much matter. I guess the main thing was that he didn't do anything that made me feel uneasy and like stopping, and if I did that to him he didn't say and carried on regardless.

It was a good night with all the thrill of being in a hotel. We fell asleep together afterwards, and Tibbi was so comfortable now that this was allowed that he didn't fret about it anymore. I was glad he was losing the hang-ups the bitches of Volterra had instilled in him.

I woke up before him the next day and went to shower. As I showered I thought about what Olwen had told me. She seemed adamant that Grace wasn't just some fluke. Ok she said that it was down to magic in dhampir blood, but hadn't Carlisle said that mixing dhampir blood with human blood before subjecting it to vampire venom fortified the blood? That seemed like a good indication to me that it would work, but was it really enough for me to gamble my life on it?

Well I'd said that if I could live forever like Grace I'd take it. Before it had been an abstract desire, nearly everyone around me was some form of supernatural or other and had access to immortality. And I was getting older so that little method of freezing time forever was appealing, but before there wasn't a chance that what happened with Grace could be repeated. Everyone was sure it was a fluke. Now I knew there was a chance that it wasn't and I had Tibbi, which made my wanting to live for longer more of an affectionate ideal than for the vain reason of fending off time. Becoming Carlisle's guinea pig seemed the only choice to me.

My mind was made up, I was gonna go ahead with it, all I had to do now was tell everyone my plans.

First person I should tell was Grace, she's my blood family and she'd done the experiments with Carlisle so she'd know what I was planning made sense. At least if my sister was ok with it the others couldn't really argue.

Weird, when I thought of the others who might argue why did Tibbi suddenly come to mind? After all there was no reason to think he'd object. After all our talk around the matter of my lack of immortality and if there was a hypothetical way of me gaining it without becoming stone cold he'd seemed more than happy to follow that course. So why didn't I want to tell him?

As I got out of the shower and started to wipe I suddenly realised why. It wasn't guaranteed that I would become a half vampire. There was a high probability, but no guarantee whatsoever. I might end up a stone cold bitch and then I'd have to leave him. I couldn't subject him to spending an eternity with a me who was like the other women who exploited him. I guess I'd have to play up the odds, that it was definite I'd become a half vamp. He couldn't be against it then.

Yeah, that's what I'd do, they knew for certain now, and if that was the case I could tell Tibbi first.

I left the bathroom and Tibbi sat up quickly as if he'd jumped awake. He looked at me for a moment and then sighed in relief as he loosened out of his alert state.

"What's wrong?" I asked, rushing over to the bed and sitting down next to him.

"I'm not used to another being in this room. I wasn't sure where I was for a moment, and then I remembered it was you my Prue." He said, pulling me into his chest and lying back with me still hugged to him.

I smiled as I settled against his chest, enjoying the contrast of his warm body against the cooling water in my hair. Tibbi inhaled deeply as he stroked my arm, and if he wasn't careful I'd never get up again. I was just so darn comfortable here being held by him.

"You showered." He observed.

"Yeah." I said. "Was it wrong of me?"

"No." Tibbi said. "But I enjoy preserving water with you."

I laughed at his joke and moved my hand up to stroke his cheek.

"Well I enjoy that too, but you looked so peaceful there. Besides, I used my alone time in the shower to think." I replied, thinking that this was probably the best time to discuss the changing thing,

"Think about what?" Tibbi asked.

"About what I found out last night. It's the reason I was talking to Carlisle. I should probably have mentioned it last night, but I really needed to sort out in my head how I felt about this news before I told you about it. Mostly because I wanted the decision to be mine, because really I am the only one who can make it and it would be wrong for me to let you influence me either way."

"I wouldn't try to influence you over anything. Unless you're planning to leave me, and then I should be allowed to plead my case." Tibbi said solemnly.

"That's never gonna happen." I said firmly. "I don't think the universe would allow it now. Like Grace said, we're true mates, and I know enough vamp couples to know what that means."

"That's a relief." Tibbi said, and he really did sound relieved.

"What I learned last night from Olwen was that Grace isn't a fluke. I don't know if you know about Olwen, but she's this ancient druid vampire hunter who got put to sleep in a rock for thousands of years before she was brought back and decided to pick up where she left off in getting rid of all the vamps from the world. Cut a long story short she was there when Tony made Grace into a half vamp. According to her it was all down to Tony's blood, to him introducing it to Grace's bloodstream before the venom. She called it the magic of the living stone man blood, but call me a sceptic; I had to get a scientist view first. Carlisle confirmed what Olwen said. It looks like it can be repeated and I wanted to think about whether I want to make that change alone. I figured out that I do. There's so many reasons for me to take this chance and I'm going to." I stated.

"And you will stay warm?" He asked.

"I'll become warmer." I said. "I'll be exactly like you. I mean you couldn't tell there was something about Grace could you?"

"No." Tibbi replied.

"I'll be just like her." I stated.

"Then I see why you choose to do this. It is a ticket to immortality without becoming stone." He observed, stroking his fingers through my hair and loosening some of the knots.

"Yeah." I said.

"Why didn't you tell me last night?"

"Like I said I had to think about it." I stated. "I needed this to be my decision. As much as I want to be with you forever, I haven't known you long enough to let you make such a decision for me. It had to be one hundred percent something I wanted or didn't want. I didn't even consult Grace on this."

"Please do not fret my lovely Venus, I would hate to influence you in this. Although now that you have made the decision am I safe to say that I'm glad you'll be joining me in eternity?"

"Of course." I said, raising my head to look at him. "It's a whole lot reassuring that you still want me when it means forever and not just my lifetime."

"It would have been hard to live past you." Tibbi observed.

"But you would have done." I said firmly. "It would have been my dying wish that you go on living a full and happy life to honour my memory. I wouldn't want you to descend into some weird spiral that sees you committing suicide or something. That would be totally against everything I stand for."

"But how could I live without you?" He asked.

"You would, because that's what I'd want from you. Even a love of your life is not the be all and end all. If it took you two hundred years you'd find someone to love again. Even if it was me reincarnated."

"You believe in reincarnation?" He asked, and it seemed like he really didn't get that at all.

"Why not?" I said with a shrug. "It's as plausible as heaven and hell."

"I suppose if one wishes to think there's something beyond this world." He stated, making clear that to him it was a very big 'if'.

"Are you an atheist?" I asked, interested to find out more about it cause I'd never met one before, or at least anyone who claimed to be one.

"I'm not sure." Tibbi said. "Religion was always abstract to us. We knew of the many religions, but were never encouraged to believe any one thing. It was something that humans did, to worship something unseen, it never seemed urgent to us."

"Yeah. Cause belief is something urgent." I observed sarcastically.

"No. But it's something instilled in you from birth. If it's not, then it's an abstract concept. Something to study but never truly understand. Like someone looking back on the gods of the ancient world. You can witness them, even know every line to every ritual, but you'll never know what it is to truly worship them."

"I think I see where you're going with this." I said.

Tibbi nodded and then we were silent for a while before he asked, "Do you worship any deity?"

"Not really." I admitted. "I was raised as a Christian, but only in the observing their holidays sense. I can't ever remember going to church accept for weddings and funerals."

"You are Christian yet believe in reincarnation." Tibbi observed.

I shrugged.

"Beats the journey up Mount Purgatory." I remarked.

"You think you will have Purgatory before being allowed into Heaven?" Tibbi asked, sounding appalled that I'd even consider I deserved it.

"Tibbi, the shit I've done in my life, Purgatory is the most I can hope for. It's either that or Hell." I said truthfully, because it was how I felt. "You see why reincarnation seems more appealing?"

"I do." Tibbi replied.

"Anyway, enough about religion. I thought you were gonna show me around the Summit today." I said firmly, deciding to change the subject.

"Of course." Tibbi said and he kissed my head before sitting up.

He went to shower and dress. I tidied around his room a bit cause it was better than sitting and thinking about our discussion on religion. Then I blow-dried my hair until it was a smooth pale curtain. Talking about the afterlife had unnerved me, but something as mundane as drying my hair helped me to centre myself before Tibbi emerged from the bathroom, rubbing water from his hair as he came.

"Will we actually be allowed to go today?" I asked.

"We will go ask Aunt Jane." Tibbi said, taking my hand and I stood up.

"Yeah." I agreed. "I don't want to cause you any trouble with the carnies if I can help it."

"In a group that should not happen." Tibbi stated.

"I wonder who she'll get to baby sit us." I mused as we left his room and made our way along the hall to the atrium.

"It will be someone we know." Tibbi said.

"You sure about that?" I asked. "It won't end up being one of her guard."

"I know all the guard." Tibbi stated.

"I don't know any of them." I reminded him.

"I doubt it will be the guard, it would be a red rag to a bull." He assured me.

"Oh right. Like they'd interpret it as if I'm someone real important. Maybe someone they might want to target."

"That is a possibility." Tibbi conceded. "How did you come by it?"

"Let's just say I'm starting to understand how some of the vamps tick." I replied as we climbed the stairs.

We came to a stop outside Jane's office and Tibbi knocked on the door. It opened on its own again and Jane gave us a bland look when we stepped inside. The vampire standing next to her desk didn't even spare us a glance, just stood there like a military statue.

"I was wondering when you'd show up this morning." She observed. "Essie and Tobias have agreed to go into the Summit with you and I know Billie is looking forward to it. Rea will show you down to their room."

Rea was the tall vampire standing to attention next to Jane's desk. Judging by the name I would have thought female, judging by the look I would have gone for male. Going by the name I decided that the vampire must be a she, despite the fact that she was dressed in some old military uniform, it looked like it was from maybe the eighteenth century with all the gold embroidery and the epaulets, not to mention the cut, but I'm nowhere near the expert to know where or when it originated, only that it was deep blue with red trim and had gold buttons. Her face wasn't exclusively masculine, but it could be mistaken for the face of a young boy, but now I was looking closer I was more certain that the vampire was a woman.

"You just pretended to be male to join the army." I murmured without realising I was doing it.

"The Navy, but yes." Rea said, her gold eyes sweeping over me.

"Is that your own uniform?" I asked, since she seemed to be prepared to answer questions, and when a vamp was willing to do that you took the opportunity.

"Yes. I made lieutenant." She replied, her answers clipped, but she still answered.

"And they never found out you were a woman?" I asked, unbelievably interested because I'd always found history so yawn worthy.

"No."

"What would have happened if they had?" I asked.

"Nothing." Rea said, in the same clipped manner, but then she decided to elaborate. "As long as I'd proved myself in battle. As long as I'd proven myself worthy then my sex didn't matter."

"You just couldn't join as a girl." I surmised.

"Yes." Rea said. "Now enough of the history lesson. I have things I want to do."

"Yes Sir." I said, and saluted.

"It's 'Aye Sir', I was navy not army. Follow." She said and strode out.

"She doesn't waste time on pleasantries does she?" I said to Jane.

"No. But I don't employ her to be nice, I employ her to do her job to the best of her advantage. And I wouldn't keep her waiting." Jane replied.

I saluted to Jane too and then left with Tibbi to follow Rea who was moving just a little too fast for a human to be comfortable. Luckily we didn't have to go too far, not even down the stairs. Essie and Tobias had been given one of the suites up on the first floor. Rea left us as soon as we reached the door, whatever she had to do must have been real urgent.

We didn't have to knock on the door this time. Billie answered it, jumping up and down in excitement, but I guessed that Essie told her to answer the door, sensing Tibbi and me outside. Billie was back in her favourite red dungarees today, her hair up in messy bunches. I don't know what it was about her, but no matter how tidy you did her hair, within seconds it looked messy. Not that it was a problem; it did suit her, little rebel that she was.

"Are you coming to see all the vampire exhibits too?" She asked.

"Yes we are." I replied.

"And you too Tibbi?" She asked, taking his hand and pulling him into the room along with me.

"Yes." Tibbi replied.

"This is going to be so much fun, all five of us seeing everything together. Right Mommy, Daddy?" She said, almost all in one breath.

"That's right Baby." Essie said, tapping Billie on the head.

"And you must ensure you stay with us at all times." Tobias said as he took Essie's place behind Billie and began to methodically straighten out her bunches. "There will be many people on the floor and you do not wish to become lost."

"Not at all Daddy." Billie said, shaking her head and causing the bunch that Tobias was straightening to become wonky again.

He sighed and gave up on Billie's hair, choosing instead to check that he had everything he'd need in the Summit. I'd put money on the fact that it was probably the fifth time he done this, he was always worried he'd forget something. He was more OCD than Liza. Essie was waiting patiently, holding Billie in place in case she decided that Tobias was taking too long. Then we all left together.

I'd never been to a convention myself; I was way too cool for that type of thing. Or at least that's what I thought when I was younger, but from what I'd seen of them on TV, the vampire Summit wasn't far off. Different covens had their stalls set up giving a little info about them, like where they were based, what their area had to offer. Some vampires were selling knowledge, a first hand account of this time in history or that time. It really wasn't my idea of a good time, it was all too vampire orientated for a human to feel comfortable. If it hadn't been Tibbi's suggestion to come here then I would have left as soon as I could, but I was determined to have a good time if only for his sake.

There were a few food stalls dotted around for the dhampir and we naturally gravitated toward them. Essie had a big appetite and it was always a good idea to feed Billie when she was actually asking for human food. I was starved too, I realised I hadn't eaten since the night before; I guess they kinda forgot about us solid feeders at times.

As we were eating we all came to the same conclusion that the Summit had lost its original sparkle and so we decided to leave. Anyway there was gonna be a bachelorette party this evening so I had to go get ready. I really had no idea what would happen at a vampire bachelorette party, but I was hoping that it would just be like a normal human one since Grace is still half human.

I don't know what I was worried about really, it was like other parties I'd been to. A group of girls out for a good time, even if half of them were drinking animal blood, it was served discreetly in decanters. Jane joined us too and it was weird seeing her let her hair down, but she sure knew how to have fun.

I was a little tipsy when I returned to Tibbi's room that night, but then he'd had some to drink too. He'd gone along with Tony and the rest of the guys. He was kinda funny when he was drunk, but not so much use to me. I thought it was better if he slept it off and so I tucked him into bed and then spooned him as we drifted to sleep.

I was surprised I didn't have a hangover the next morning, but then I'd gone to sleep quite early all things considered. Tibbi was still fast asleep and I decided to let him sleep again while I showered and then I'd wake him after. He was still asleep when I emerged from the shower so I crouched down near his head and began to tickle his nose.

He twitched his nose and I giggled a little as I tickled his nose again. He moved his hand up as if to get rid of a fly.

"Tine to wake up Tiberius." I whispered and pressed my lips to his.

He inhaled deeply and then his eyes opened. He was having a little trouble focusing this morning, but he managed a smile.

"Had a good time last night?" I asked.

"From what I can remember." He said with a frown and then winced.

"Did the bad boys lead you astray?" I asked.

"I… I will kill that Emmett, I swear he is the one responsible for my state." He said in a quiet voice.

"What happened?" I asked.

"I said I did not drink. He insisted that I should for the sake of those who can't. I agreed to one pint of beer, I knew that was within my limit, but I would drink soda for the rest of the night. The beer tasted a little strange and the lemonade I had afterwards was rather sharp. That's where it becomes hazy…" He said, drifting off.

"Sounds like he put something a little stronger in your drink. Sounds like the kind of prank Emmett would pull. Don't worry, I'll let Rose know what he did, she'll put him in his place." I stated, tapping his shoulder.

"I would find it much more satisfying to rip his head off." Tibbi growled.

"I know honey, but Emmett is super strong for a vampire so you're likely to get hurt if you go up against him. It's much better if I have a word with Rose. She knows the right strings to pull with him."

"Whatever you think is best." Tibbi replied.

"Anyway, we'll put vengeance aside right now. Why don't you get up and jump in the shower and I'll go track you down some coffee. Maybe a kitchen where I can get you some bacon and eggs, a nice big plate full of greasy food. We'll soon have you feeling better." I assured him as I helped him to sit up.

"I hope so because I feel like death." He grumbled.

"Poor baby." I crooned tapping his back, and then I thought of something. "Can't you just give Emmett your hangover? It would serve him right and would be a justified form of revenge."

"I haven't the energy to track him down." Tibbi said warily.

"What if I get him here?" I asked.

"As much as that thought appeals, aren't we busy today?" He replied.

"I guess we are." I said, standing up and trying to help him to his feet. "So get your ass in that shower and I'll go track down breakfast."

Tibbi nodded carefully, then walked heavily toward the bathroom. I waited until I could hear the water running, then I left his room and headed to the atrium. I wasn't exactly sure where to go from there, but when I did I was certain I could smell the faint scent of bacon. I decided to follow my nose. It grew stronger the further I went down one of the corridors and there was a set of stairs at the end. I descended them and found myself in an industrial style kitchen. It was no surprise that Liza was down here with no sign she'd drank the night before even though she put away more than I had.

"Good morning Prue, are you ready for the wedding?" She asked brightly.

"Yeah." I said. "But Tibbi's not. Emmett decided to get him drunk last night and he's paying for it this morning."

"Then a big breakfast is in order and plenty of black coffee." Liza observed.

"Exactly." I replied. "So is this where I get them?"

"Yes." Liza said. "Hold on a moment and I will provide you with two breakfasts. I decided to take cooking duties this morning or I will be in bugging Grace and she will become annoyed with me. Regardless of whether she admits to it, I will know."

"Yeah, Grace doesn't let you know when she's upset." I agreed. "Been the same ever since we were kids."

Liza nodded.

"It's ok to take the food to the room right?" I asked, wondering how I'd get Tibbi here if I couldn't.

"As far as I know the dhampir tend to eat in their rooms. It's only for special occasions they eat together in the meeting room. It's mostly down to the fact that they all work to different schedules and so finding an eating timetable to suit everyone is not a viable option." Liza explained.

"I think it would suck to live here all the time." I said, sitting down on a stool, not offering to help because I knew Liza wouldn't accept it, "It's probably ok if you're a vampire, but it just seems such an isolated way to live if you're a half vamp."

"It does appear that way." Liza said as she began to serve out pancakes, sausages, bacon and eggs onto two plates. "I am glad we get to leave this place in two days time."

"Yeah. I'm thinking of bringing Tibbi with me." I stated.

"No doubt he will accompany you." Liza said as she also doled out fried tomatoes and baked beans. "Are you planning on living in the Stables?"

"Well we'll have to for a while." I stated. "But I was thinking of finding my own place to live. It would make more sense now Grace and Tony are married. Living with a married couple would just be weird either way."

"I could help you look into property if you would like." Liza offered. "And if worse comes to worse there is always the old Cranston place."

"No." I said with a shiver, that place had always given me the creeps when the Cranston, a nice old couple despite their creepy home, had lived there; now that it was empty…I needed a better reason than that though. "That would be a little too close. I want somewhere in Olympic Pines, even on the Drive, but not smack bang between the Stables and Tregarran."

"I can see why you would choose that." Liza said, looking thoughtful. "I will certainly look into other properties for you."

"You have experience in real estate?" I asked.

"No. But you know how much I enjoy organising the life of others." Liza said with a grin as she poured out two mugs of coffee.

"Well if you hear anything let me know." I replied as I went to pick up the tray she put everything on, including two of them silver dome things over the plates to keep the food warm. "Now let's go see if I can't pep my Tibbi up."

"You won't need this lot to pep him up I'm sure." Liza said with a grin.

"You're getting dirty in your old age." I said as I walked to the door. "Mal's obviously pushing all the right buttons. At least to the point where it's making you filthy minded."

"What can I say? He knows my body well and knows all the right places to appease me." Liza said lightly and I laughed at her response, dirty minded Liza was way more fun than prim and proper Liza of high school.

I had a lot of funny thoughts on the subjects as I carried the tray back to Tibbi's room.

"Mmmmh, breakfast." Tony said, as he stopped at the top of the stairs so we didn't cross on them.

"Yeah, well this is my breakfast." I said. "Liza's down there cooking for the troops so go help yourself."

"Great, that means there'll be lots to eat." He said with a wide grin.

"I thought you'd be living on your nerves this morning." I observed.

"I am. When I get nervous I eat. I think it's a wolf thing. Big appetites and everything. I need to eat or I'll be all worrying about today. Not that there's anything to worry about, I can't believe that Grace will officially be my wife by the end of today. But there's so much I can do to make a fool of myself today. I could trip over my own stupid feet as I make my way out of the chapel with Grace. And I have to try not to cry at all. One little whimper and Uncle Em will never let me live it down." Tony babbled.

"Tony! Breathe!" I snapped and he blinked at me. "Yep, you're nervous alright, you're not usually such a chatter box. I guess you'd better get down there and eat breakfast, stat."

Tony nodded and then started to lope down the stairs, before he stopped and turned to me.

"Oh yeah, Grace asked if you could go see her in about an hour. I was coming to find you when I got distracted this way. I must have caught your scent I guess." He said with a shrug.

He probably had caught my scent, or maybe even my mind signature, but Tony played down his abilities. I don't know whether it was a lack of confidence, or if he thought he'd put people off if they knew exactly how powerful he was, whatever it was it seemed hard for him to admit to what he could actually do.

"Yeah, well consider the message received and I guess I'll see you at the ceremony." I replied.

Tony nodded, gave me a nervous smile, then loped down the rest of the steps. I decided to get a move on or else the breakfast would get cold. Anyway, Tibbi should have been out of the shower and I didn't want him thinking something had happened to me.

He was just stepping out of the bathroom as I was manhandling the tray into the room.

"I got us some breakfast, I can guarantee that it will be good quality because Liza made it, but I can't guarantee how hot it is because there's a hell of trek between here and the kitchen." I stated.

"As long as it tastes nice." Tibbi said, slumping into a wooden chair by a small table.

I placed each plate from the tray onto the table and then the two mugs of coffee. I put the tray on the floor before I sat opposite Tibbi and removed the dome from my plate and I was pleased to see it was still steaming. Tibbi removed the dome from his own plate and he looked a little queasy as he glanced down at the food in front of him.

"The first bite is always worst." I assured him as I cut off some pancake and placed it in my mouth, he hadn't touched his food by the time I'd swallowed. "You might feel like you can't eat, or you'll throw up if you do, but as soon as that food hits your stomach your body will get the right idea and you'll wolf it down."

Tibbi gave me a doubtful look, but he picked up his knife and fork and tried some scrambled egg. It clearly went down hard, but then he seemed to find his appetite and was soon clearing his plate. By the time we were both drinking back the coffee Tibbi was looking more himself.

"Are you feeling better now?" I asked, just to be sure.

"Much." He assured me. "Your remedy worked."

"Well it's personally tried and tested." I remarked as I got to my feet. "I'm going to take these back to the kitchen then Grace wants to see me. I'm not sure how long I'll be, but if I'm not back by one start getting ready. The wedding starts at half three remember."

"Yes." Tibbi said. "What of your outfit?"

"Oh yeah. I'll have to come back for that." I realised. "I'll be back in time." I promised and kissed his cheek.

I went to pick up the tray, but Tibbi stopped me.

"I'll take these to the kitchen, you should go and attend your sister today." He stated.

"Thanks." I said, feeling touched as I kissed his cheek again. "I'll see you later."

I left the room, holding the door for Tibbi while he manoeuvred the tray out into the hallway. We walked to the atrium together, then had to separate while he went down the hall that led to the kitchen and I took the one that led to the room Tony and Grace were sharing.

I knocked on the door before walking in. Grace was sat at a table with Alice brushing her hair. She looked a little bored, but then Grace had never been one for this type of girly bonding. The only reason she let me experiment on her as a kid was because I was older. When she realised it was me the relief on her face was clear.

"I'll be another five minuets." She said, clearly hoping Alice would catch the hint. "Take a seat and help yourself to some orange juice."

"Ok." I said, taking up the pitcher and pouring myself some orange juice before I sat in the other wooden chair next to Grace.

"How are you feeling this morning?" I asked.

"Good." Grace said. "A little nervous."

"Tony too. I think he's gone to eat the entire kitchen." I remarked.

"He just might do." Grace said with a nervous laugh.

"If he's anything like Jake and Essie then he can put the entire kitchen away and then some." Alice said brightly. "Those Quileute have big appetites."

"They do." Grace said with a fond smile and I stopped myself from making any dirty-minded observations about insatiable appetites.

"How do you feel about no longer being Grace Pearson?" I asked.

"It's a little strange, but I'll still use Pearson as my working name. But from now on I'll officially be Grace Black."

"Have you been practicing your new signature?" I asked.

"Yes." She said, her cheeks going red.

"Don't feel embarrassed, I did the same the first time I married Jasper. Of course back then it was still a case of being Mrs Jasper Whitlock, but I was a forward thinking woman and I practiced Alice Whitlock too. I think if I remembered my maiden name back then I would have been Alice Brandon-Whitlock, but I had a bit of a bumpy transition." Alice said in a light voice that was clearly hiding a lot of history. "Well that's your hair done, shall I do Prue's now?"

"Yes." Grace replied. "I know you like to do your hair but I thought it would be a treat for you today." She directed toward me.

"Well it's hard to get an up do completely perfect." I said as I swapped places with Grace.

Alice began on my hair. It didn't take long to realise she was going for something similar to how Grace was wearing her hair, although it was a little smoother, not so many teased down tendrils and instead of the flowers in Grace's hair there was a simple silver comb with diamante that caught the light when I moved my head.

"That's me done." Alice said. "I'll leave you girls to it."

"Thank you Alice." Grace said with a smile.

"It was my pleasure." Alice replied. "I'll see you at the ceremony. Good luck." She added and kissed Grace on the cheek before she left.

"You wanted to see me?" I asked after a while.

"Yes. You're the only living family I have, well apart from Garry, and although he is our biological father, I can't think of him as being our dad, you know what I mean?" She began.

"Yeah." I agreed, I knew exactly what she meant.

"So as far as I'm concerned you're the most qualified for this task." She stated, without actually saying what the task was.

"What task?" I asked when she hadn't spoken for a minuet.

"Will you give me away?" She asked hopefully.

"You seriously feel the need to ask?" I said. "I'd be honoured to give you away, as long as it's to Tony." I added with a wink.

"Thank you Prue." Grace said, hugging me. "You don't know how much this means to me."

"I do." I said seriously. "But how come you didn't ask me sooner?"

"I wasn't sure you'd go for it." Grace said apologetically.

"I guess I can be funny at times." I conceded. "But seriously, this is something important to you, like I'd refuse."

"Thank you." Grace said again.

We hugged each other in silence for a while longer, but then it was time to get things moving.

"Do you need me to help you into your dress?" I asked, pulling away from her.

"No. I don't plan on dressing until half two. There's no point really, I'll only end up creasing it or dropping food down it." She stated in her self-mocking way. "No, I'll grab something to eat and get dressed around two."

"Then I'll come with you to get some food and we can stop by Tibbi's room to pick up my dress and we'll get dressed together." I stated.

"Sounds like a good plan." Grace said with a smile and so we got to our feet and went down to the kitchen where Tobias had taken over breakfast duties.

Grace ate quite a lot of food and even had a glass of blood to boot. I couldn't watch when she did that cause the thought of my baby sister drinking blood kinda turned my stomach. I was glad there wasn't any trace of it by the time I looked back up. We then made our way to Tibbi's room. He was lounging on the bed listening to music when we went in, well I guess there wasn't anything he needed to do just yet.

I explained to him the new plan and that I'd meet him after the ceremony. Grace assured him he had a seat on the bride's side and she looked forward to getting to know him a little better once she was back from her honeymoon, but things were a little hectic right now. Tibbi agreed to it and I kissed him before I picked up my dress and went with Grace back to her room.

We spent a while reminiscing because there was a little time to kill. Then I helped Grace into her dress, not that there was an awful lot to help with, she hadn't gone with a fussy dress with lots of petticoats and laces, but it was buttoned at the back so she needed me to do it all the way for her. Even though it was a simple dress when you compared it to other bridal wear, it was still pretty and elegant. A long satin skirt in ivory, and long sleeves made from antique lace. The buttons were like purls too.

My dress was a little simpler; I could slip it on over my head. It was in a light silvery blue that set off my eyes and wouldn't clash with the bride. I had shoes to match, and now that I had a bigger role than made of honour, I was glad I'd brought my fascinator with the it's fabric rose and feathers. It sat just right in my hair so that the comb was still visible.

"I feel like I should have a hat rather than the fascinator now." I said as I pulled on my shoes.

"You look great the way you are." Grace said. "My wonderful big sister."

"And you look beautiful." I said, fixing her veil in place. "Dad would have been proud to give you away today."

"I hope so." Grace said in a small voice.

"He would have been." I said firmly. "And so would Mom."

"Thank you." Grace said, hugging me.

"For what?" I asked.

"For calling them Mom and Dad instead of Ingrid and Brigham. Thanks for doing that for me on this day." She whispered in my ear.

"This is your day and I can't be selfish." I said. "Now you got everything?"

"Yes." She assured me.

"How about bridesmaids?" I asked.

"Billie's a flower girl, but Essie will meet us there." Grace stated.

"So we just gotta get us to the place?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Ok. Then let's go." I said, holding out my right arm to her and she slipped her left arm through. "Don't forget your bouquet." I remembered, handing it to her before we left the room.

I wasn't so sure where we were going, but Grace seemed to know so I followed her lead out of the ranch house and over to the conference building. We didn't go into the big main room where the Summit was being held, instead we went through a door marked 'staff only' and up a little hallway lined with doors until we reached a door marked 'chapel'. That almost made me laugh, that the vamps would have a chapel, but then a lot of them were old and religion had played a big part in their life. Was it surprising they might want a place to carry on that worship, even if they thought they were damned?

Jane was waiting outside the door holding Billie's hand. Billie didn't look too disturbed that she was on her own with Jane, but I guess she was used to her as Auntie Jane. Billie was wearing a light blue dress covered in flowers. Her hair was super curly this morning and held back with a hair band covered in rosebuds. She was holding a basket that contained a flower arrangement similar to Grace's bouquet.

Jane smiled at us as we came to a stop.

"You both look wonderful." She said. "Especially you Grace, you make the most elegant bride."

"Thank you." Grace said, blushing a little.

"And now you are the blushing bride. This is perfect." She crooned happily, and she really wasn't being a bitch about it. "They're not quite ready for you yet, but when they are we won't go through this door. We'll go through that door there." She said, pointing to the next door along. "That way we can enter through the main chapel doors."

"You're walking down the aisle with us?" I asked.

"No. I'll enter a moment before you and take my seat, and then you wait for your musical cue. I believe you know the wedding march." Jane replied.

"Doesn't everyone?" I asked.

"Yes." Jane agreed. "You ladies wait here and I'll just go let the official know you've arrived."

Jane let Billie's hand go and disappeared through the door marked chapel.

"You're looking very elegant today Billie." I said.

"Thank you Prue." She said and did a little curtsy. "And you do too. And you look like an angel Grace. A very beautiful angel."

"Thank you." Grace said. "And thanks for being my flower girl."

Billie smiled at the praise.

The chapel door opened and Jane stepped back through and took Billie's hand again.

"Come on." She said and led us to the other door she'd pointed out earlier.

She led us into a nicely decorated hallway. The materials were clearly expensive, but everything was understated. It was a case of showing off the nice stuff they had without ramming it in your face. I liked it.

We were left in this hallway while Jane stepped through frosted glass doors that had a cross etched into the centre of each windowpane. Beyond that people were sat down in rows of pews, waiting for the entrance of the bride.

I made sure Billie was standing in front of us and ready to go. I stepped back and offered my arm to Grace.

"Are you ready?" I whispered to Grace as I heard a rumbling voice and everyone we could see inside the chapel stood.

Grace nodded and hand clutched tighter onto my arm as she braced herself. Then as the constant organ music changed into an all too familiar tune we each took a deep breath and I led my sister into the chapel, Billie walking ahead off us seemed to be channel Liza's grace and poise this afternoon. We had to make a right turn to reach the altar where Tony was waiting, looking a little flustered in his tux. I don't think Grace noticed anything except that Tony was there, waiting for her and we made our way up to the front.

We went through the ceremony and it was beautiful, if a little long winded. I was sure the official had been a priest in his human life, because he sure liked to give a long sermon. He also knew his bible quotes and in the warm chapel I found it hard to keep my eyes open with his soothing rumbling voice. If it wasn't for the times when we had to join in with the prayer or stand up to sing I would have dropped off.

When it came to signing the register, I was one witness and Liza was the other. Then it was all over apart from the walk back out of the chapel, the part that Tony hoped he didn't fall flat on his face during. I walked behind them with Billie on left. Essie and Tobias were behind us, Liza and Mal behind them, although being the best man technically Mal should have been in front of me. I guess it didn't really matter; this wedding was anything but conventional. It was only as we were walking out that I realised the chapel was surrounded on all four walls by a gallery and all the seats were filled. Most of them were clearly vampires, but there was a cluster up near the back that looked almost human, they had to be the half vamps. I hadn't realised we had such an audience, and I was kinda glad I hadn't known before I would have mucked up somewhere.

Tibbi stepped in beside me when I passed his pew and I slipped my arm through his. I leaned in close to him as we stepped through the door and whispered, "What's with the peanut gallery?"

"There's only limited space in the chapel itself, but a wedding between immortals is seen as a community affair and so everyone is invited to watch, but only those with a direct invitation are allowed in the chapel itself." He explained.

"And I guess this would have gained more interest than normal being the first dhampir wedding they've held here." I observed.

"Yes." Tibbi replied.

"I'm glad I didn't know about that before I went in there or the pressure would have been unbearable." I stated and then shut up as we came to a stop near two double doors where two vampires, one of them I was sure was Rea, were stood to attention.

I was aware of everyone coming to a stop behind us. Then Jane didn't push her way to the front, she didn't need to, everyone just let her through. She whispered with the guard, then stepped through the door. A moment later she reappeared.

"If the bride and groom and the wedding party would care to step into the ante room." She said, indicating a little area off to the side where a couple of chairs were set up. "Then the rest of you can enter and take your seats."

Tony and Grace stepped into the little alcove; I did too, bringing Tibbi and Billie with me. The others who joined us there were Essie, Tobias, Liza and Mal. Everyone else was now making their way in through the double doors.

"Congratulations Mrs Black." I said, hugging Grace, and she hugged me back tightly.

"I can't believe it's almost over." She whispered into my ear, and she sounded as if she'd been crying.

"Well this day is nearly over, but it's just the start for you and Tony." I said, tapping her back.

Grace nodded against my shoulder. I hugged her tightly one last time then pulled away and turned to Tony who was being hugged by his mother and sisters. I waited until they'd let him go before I held out my hand to him.

"Congratulations Bro." I said, and Tony went to shake my hand gingerly.

I laughed and pulled him into a hug.

_Now you look after her or I will kill you._ I thought hard and at the top of my mind, knowing that he'd pick up on it.

_I know._ Tony replied telepathically as he hugged me back. _I wouldn't expect anything less from 'psycho' Prue Pearson._ He joked.

I smiled and pulled away from him and took Tibbi's hand. We watched as everyone got their chance to congratulate the happy couple in private before we were in the public eye once more.

Then we were let into another big room, about half the size of the conference room. There was tables set up around a big area of dance floor. We were all led to the head table and sat in our place before Jane announced the bride and groom. There was applause as Grace and Tony entered and came to take their seats, Grace next to me.

The reception went well, it was a real fun night and I got to send my little sister off on her new life in a much more extravagant way than I could have organised. If the dhampir were still worried that they weren't counted as equal to the vampires then this had to change their mind.

I wasn't sure where Grace and Tony were heading off on honeymoon, only that Carlisle and Esme had organised it. Tony seemed pleased by this, Grace didn't know what was in store, but I was told once they were driving away into the night. Esme owned a private island off the coast of Rio, and that's where they were headed. A whole island to themselves for four whole weeks, it sounded like bliss. I was jealous, I'll admit that, but I was also happy that Grace would have this perfect honeymoon to remember.

I would have gone home after that, it seemed better than hanging around vamp HQ another two days, but I had things to sort out with Carlisle.

"I know the risks, but I still want to go ahead with this." I said to him when I found him the day after the wedding.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." I said firmly. "I trust your ability as a doctor to know what you're doing. I mean you've done all that research with Grace and Tony; you must have a good idea of the best way to do this. The thing is, I'm not getting any younger, and I'll soon reach the point where I'll be too old to preserve. That's why if I'm going for this it needs to be now. And if there's a chance that I can go through this transformation and still be warm then I'm gonna take it, even if one of the risks is that I end up cold, at least I tried. And at lest you'll know in future."

"Then you give me no choice but to help you." Carlisle observed. "We'll return to Olympic Pines first, I can use one of the rooms in Tregarran, or perhaps you have room at the Stables."

"It might be better at the Stables." I conceded. "I wouldn't want Billie walking in on it and getting scarred for life."

"Then the Stables it is." Carlisle said with a smile. "You will also need a dhampir to volunteer his blood and venom."

"It has to be a he?" I asked.

"Yes. Female dhampir have very little venom if any. It's much easier to gain a sample from a male." Carlisle explained.

"Ok. Well I'm sure Tibbi will be willing. After all I get to live forever with him if all goes to plan." I reasoned.

"If it all goes to plan." Carlisle said in a pointed way. "Remember you are gambling your life on something that is not tested and may go awry."

"I guess there's always Hunter as a back up." I said, since I wasn't sure I wanted to lumber Tibbi with the guilt of thinking he'd killed me if it all went wrong.

"I'm sure Hunter will help you in this endeavour. I will speak with him." Carlisle promised.

"Yeah, but he's just a stand by." I said firmly.

"Of course." Carlisle agreed.

We all left together the next day. I took Tony's truck rather than leave it at HQ. Originally Mal was supposed to drive it back, but what was the point in splitting him and Liza up now I could take the truck? Tibbi rode with me, obviously, and I decided to push my limits by driving all the way back to the Pines with only food and bathroom breaks. I could sleep once I was back at the Stables, I just didn't want to fork out on a motel. As long as I kept the coffee flowing I'd be fine.

On the ride home I discussed the possibility of me becoming a half vamp again. Tibbi was completely on board, and couldn't believe it would happen so soon. But like I told Carlisle, I wasn't getting any younger, what was the point in waiting? With everybody willing I didn't see any reason not to get straight on to it as soon as we were back. I mean I'd have to rest first, an eighteen hour drive was enough to exhaust anyone, but after that…

Everything was going to plan. Over the course of the weekend I'd undergo the transformation and Tibbi would be my donor. I was certain it would work and as long as we all believed that then it was true. What I didn't count on was Tibbi actually asking Carlisle the ins and outs of the procedure and what the risks were without me knowing.

"There is no guarantee." Tibbi said as he came in through the kitchen door of the Stables.

"What?" I asked, a little groggy because I hadn't had my morning coffee.

"You told me it was a certainty that you will become like your sister, but there is no certainty. Carlisle told me it was a gamble. You want to gamble your life on this?" Tibbi demanded.

"Yes." I said. "It's my life to gamble."

"Fair enough, but I won't be part of it." He said firmly. "I can't be complicit in your murder."

"Fine. I don't care." I said stubbornly, determined not to budge on this. "I know other half vamps who'll help me. The thing is Tibbi, you're a new feature in my life, and although you're a big factor there's still all those things I wanted before I met you. One of them was the chance at immortality while still seeming mostly human. This is my body and my decision, and if you don't want to be my donor I completely understand. I would have preferred it to be you, but I also don't want you to feel guilty if it goes wrong."

"Please don't do this." Tibbi said, falling to his knees before me. "I don't want to lose you now that I have found you."

"I'm sorry Tibbi. I have to be selfish with this." I said calmly. "I have to do it for me. Anything else I'd let you sway me, but not over this. Not over something that is very much my decision."

"I will have no part of it." Tibbi said, shooting to his feet. "And I will not be around to see you destroyed."

"If that's your decision." I said with a shrug.

It hurt that he was threatening to leave, but I wasn't so sure he would. Anyway, if I became a half vamp it would be as much for him as it was for me. And I'd have to run the risk sooner or later. I didn't want to grow old and die, so it was better to get this out of the way, rather than a few years down the line when we tangled more deeply and I just might let his opinion count over something that affected my body.

"I am serious, I will leave." He said, making no signs of actually leaving.

"And I am serious that I will attempt this procedure. I'm tired of being the only human in the group. It's wearing me down." I stated. "This is what I want, so support me or get lost. When it's successful we'll make a go of things again if you want to, but right now I need positive thoughts. I need people around me who know this will work out how I want it."

Tibbi glared at me, and then growled. He rose to his feet and left. I got the feeling that he wouldn't be back. I felt kinda hollow, a little numb, and a lot angry that he wouldn't stand by me through this. Well I had a stand by didn't I?

I picked up my phone and dialled Carlisle.

"We're gonna need Hunter after all." I said. "Tibbi's bailed."

"I'm sorry to hear that." Carlisle said. "I will talk to Hunter and we will be around at midday. Are you fine sticking to the original schedule?"

"As long as Hunter can do it I don't see the point in postponing it. I want to get it over and done with so that Tibbi can see that I was right and stop stropping around like a kid." I stated.

"He is merely feeling protective of you." Carlisle said diplomatically.

"I know, but that doesn't give him the right to think he can control my body." I countered. "That's my property, I decide what happens to it. I want this more than anything. I want to be around as long as my sister, I want my knee to stop aching. I just don't want to be a boring old human anymore. I want to be able to keep up with Billie, and take her out running when she wants to go, rather than wait for when one of the others can take her. There's a million reasons why I should do this, and I'm not gonna let recent events persuade me otherwise."

"You are a woman who knows her own mind." Carlisle observed. "Ensure that you have plenty of rest this morning, and Hunter and I will be over at midday to begin proceedings."

"Thanks Doc." I said.

Then we both hung up.

Carlisle said to rest, but I couldn't, I was restless. I cleaned around the kitchen but that didn't take long. I went out to the barn where I had a few art supplies and I started painting on the canvas that had been sitting empty for a while now. Suddenly I had the urge to fill it. Funny really how my anger drove my art, at least when I didn't have an objective to work toward like when I was decorating that table for Billie.

At half eleven I went to shower, I didn't want to go into immortality covered in paint. Not that it would be happening today, Carlisle just wanted to monitor me to get an average reading so he could monitor me throughout the change and afterwards to know exactly what happened during the change. I didn't mind that, all in the name of science and everything.

Carlisle arrived at midday; he knocked at the front door having come in a small van because he had a lot of equipment to lug over. Emmett, Jasper and Hunter were with him to help with the lifting.

"What room would you like us to use?" Carlisle asked.

"Through here." I said, and led them through to the back of the house and the rooms that Mrs Fabregas used to occupy. "You might want to bring the van around to the back and bring everything into through the back door." I continued as I led them through the house and stopped in the bigger room that Mrs Fabregas used as a sitting room, but the rents had long ago cleared out the furniture, I had no idea what they'd been planning to do with the rooms but this one would make a good OR as far as I was concerned. "Will this room do?"

"It's perfect." Carlisle said. "Why don't you go and wait in the sitting room while we set up in here."

"Ok." I said, not really wanting to go, but I realised it was probably better than me getting in the way when they were setting up.

I went to the old den and slumped down onto a beanbag, but I didn't bother with the TV, I listened instead to the sound of things being moved around. I had thought it was going to take ages, but they were vampires and within fifteen minuets Hunter came to tell me that Carlisle was ready for me.

I nodded and without a word he helped me up to my feet from out of the confines of the beanbag. It was weird being this close to someone I'd had sex with, and damn good sex at that, and not feel even the smallest tingle. I guess Tibbi had completely overridden my system. It was a shame I might have pushed him away forever, but then I had my friends and family around me, even if I didn't have him.

Hunter frowned slightly and I remembered too late that he could read minds, and it was enhanced through skin contact. I snatched my hand from his and glared at him, just daring him to say something. He just held his hands up in surrender, then said Carlisle was waiting.

We went back to the old sitting room and it looked like a hospice room now, with the hospital bed and machinery, but there was also a few chairs around a low coffee table. Carlisle was sat in one of the chairs and he stood up when I came in the room. His smile was welcoming and it was easy to see why people liked him as a family doctor. The three of us sat down. Carlisle leaned forward, looking kindly into my eyes.

"I will monitor you for twenty four hours, I hope you don't mind being confined to the house for that time." He said.

"I got no problem with that." I said.

"Do I have to stay all that time?" Hunter asked.

"No Hunter, you may go back to Olwen if you wish and return tomorrow around eleven. The fresher the blood donation the better." Carlisle said.

"Then I'll be back tomorrow. I know Olwen was fretting a little before I came out and I have to tell her you're ok." Hunter said as he stood.

"Go be with her." I said with a smile.

Hunter nodded, and then he was gone.

"Would you like me to call on Liza to come sit with you?" Carlisle asked.

"I'm ok." I said. "Maybe later when I'm going out of my head with boredom, but right now we should probably start attaching all your receivers and whatever."

"Are you certain you still wish to go ahead with this?" Carlisle asked, looking into my eyes again as if he could read my mind.

"Yeah." I said firmly. "And I got until you actually stick the venom in me to change my mind right?"

"Yes." Carlisle replied. "Then we shall begin when Esme arrives to assist me."

It didn't take long for Esme to show up and I was soon up on the bed having electrodes glued to certain points on my body. Carlisle said they were remote so I didn't have to remain tied to the machine for the next day. Then I was left to do my own thing for the next twenty-four hours. Great.

I was tempted to phone Liza, but what would be the point in ruining her vacation time at home? So I forced myself to sit and watch DVDs for the rest of the day, wishing that Tibbi was here with me. But he was the one who'd run out on me because of my decision for my body. I cried a little, it was stupid, but I had hoped he'd stand by me through this, but I guess I can't blame him for having his own opinion.

I was feeling nervous the next day as the morning wore on. Carlisle showed up around ten to ensure that I was ready for this and to log my readings from over night. I must have been quieter than normal because he kept checking that I was ok and that I hadn't changed my mind. I wanted to go ahead with this, I really did, but I couldn't help wishing that it was Tibbi who was going to help me with this and not Hunter.

Hunter arrived at eleven and I lay on the hospital bed ready while Carlisle prepped Hunter to take his blood. I wasn't much for needles so I turned my head not to see what Carlisle was doing. I'm not sure how close Carlisle was to inserting the needle when the door burst open.

"Stop!" Tibbi commanded.

I looked around in annoyance.

"I'm going ahead with this Tibbi, I told you that." I growled.

"I know." Tibbi said, coming up to the side of my bed. "I should support you. I should give you my blood, not Hunter."

"Fine by me." Hunter said, getting to his feet and gesturing to the seat he'd been sitting in.

"You're really going to support me through this?" I asked.

"Yes Prue." Tibbi said, taking my hand and kissing it. "I should not have gone off. You are right, it is your body and your decision, but I was frightened to lose you. It was Liza and Lilly who changed my mind. They pointed out that I wouldn't love you any less if you were to become a cold vampire and if the worse should happen and you die, I have squandered the last of my time with you."

"You'll still love me if I become a vampire?" I asked in amazement.

"I will love you always." Tibbi said and kissed my forehead. "And now to prove this I will…allow the good doctor to…stick a needle in my arm."

"Not to keen on needles?" I asked.

Tibbi shook his head.

"Can you move that chair closer to here and still be able to work?" I asked Carlisle.

"Yes." Carlisle replied and then moved that heavy looking chair over to the bed I was lying in.

Tibbi sat down and I took his hand.

"Just look at me." I said. "And remember to breathe."

Tibbi looked at me and I smiled at him. He did look worried.

"So Liza and Lilly spoke up for me then?" I asked.

"Yes." Tibbi replied. "They made me realise that I'll love you whatever the outcome. And that I was also angry because you lied to me."

"I lied?" I asked in confusion.

"Yes." Tibbi said and winced slightly, but then ignored the blood oozing out of his arm and down the tube into the bag. "You didn't tell me all the risks. You didn't give me chance to come to terms with it. You tried to shield me from the horrible truth as if I was a child."

"I'm sorry." I said. "I was stupid to lie to you. I thought that if you knew the truth you'd try and talk me out of it. I didn't want you to talk me out of it."

"But you should have told me, to prepare me. How bad it would have been thinking I'd have a warm Prue at the end of this, only for you to die. It would have been devastating."

"I didn't think of that side of things." I said with shame. "I was being selfish. As usual."

"I am sure you're not so selfish." Tibbi said, and stroked my hand with his thumb. "It was an oversight in your frightened state."

"Thanks." I said with a smile.

Carlisle had taken a pint of blood from Tibbi by that point.

"Now I will begin the transfusion." He said as he moved the blood bag over to the other side of my bed and attached it to the drip hook.

He then attached the line to my arm and I lay back and let the blood wash through my system.

"I will harvest some of your venom in the mean time." Carlisle said to Tibbi and he led him off somewhere I couldn't see.

I lay with my eyes shut for I don't know how long before Tibbi took my hand again and he was looking worried. Well I was feeling worried myself; it was getting close to the point of no return. Well this is what I wanted and I wouldn't change my mind now. I wouldn't chicken out.

"What did Carlisle need to harvest your venom for?" I asked.

"So he can inject you with it rather than have me bite you." Tibbi stated.

"Oh right." I said, my stomach rolling at the thought of more needles, but I guess it was better than being bitten.

"That's all the blood." Carlisle said, removing the line from my arm. "It is time to begin."

"Do it." I said, squeezing Tibbi's hand tightly. "See you on the other side." I said and pulled him close to kiss me before I turned to Carlisle. "I'm ready Doc."

"I am about to begin this." Carlisle said and then I felt the needle enter my arm. "Are you sure?"

"Yes." I said firmly, clutching Tibbi's hand.

"After three." Carlisle said. "One, two, three."

I felt something warm enter my arm, and then it felt like fire. It was the most fiery pain imaginable and I felt my body stiffen in defence. But there was no turning back now. It was done, I was changing and I was on fire.

Not on fire, I was stuck in a fiery hell! I'd heard that it was painful, but I'd never imagined it was like this! Oh god it hurt and I wanted it to go away! Why did I ever ask for this? I was an idiot. I didn't think I was going to get through it! I'd slip away into the fiery dark and be lost there forever!

"Prue, I am here." Tibbi whispered and I was aware somewhere that he was stroking my forehead.

"It hurts so much." I whimpered, and somewhere else I felt annoyed with myself that I'd whimpered.

"It's not long now." Tibbi crooned. "Another day and you will be back with me."

"Oh god." I gasped and the fire took me again.

This was what hell felt like I was certain. This endless burning with no idea when I'd be released from it. I thought I'd never feel cool again.

But then all of a sudden I was more aware of things around me and I knew that the fiery pain was starting to get fainter. I was starting to cool and I said it out loud.

"Yes, it won't be long now." Carlisle said, and I felt his hand touch my forehead and it felt like ice and I hissed.

"It's ok my love." Tibbi said, stroking my cheek.

"It was like ice on my forehead." I growled and then hummed as I caught a delicious scent, without knowing how, I knew it was Tibbi.

"You smell nice." I murmured. "And I'm getting cooler."

"Good." Tibbi observed and I felt him kiss my hand.

"I just, I'm not on fire anymore, I just feel warm." I said, feeling myself frown. "Like I'm in a nice warm bath."

I opened my eyes and Tibbi gasped as he swam into focus.

"You're eyes, they are still blue." He said in wonder as he stroked my face.

I felt myself smile.

"It worked." I whispered.

Our experiment was a success.

**The End**

* * *

**Thank you for reading**

**Please review**

**Gemma x**


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